MATT ACKLAND
WTTG
Reprinted with Permission

WASHINGTON - Two firefighters were injured and a neighbor was treated for breathing trouble during a two-alarm fire at a home in the Bloomingdale neighborhood in northwest D.C.


Fire officials say when they first responded to the blaze on 2nd Street, there was a concern that someone was trapped inside.

“We initially had somebody that was unaccounted for, a resident, but everybody has been accounted for now. We have three people that will be displaced. Pretty significant damage,” said Pete Piringer of D.C. Fire and EMS.

STATter911:
Busy Day in D.C. Video, Pictures, Audio from Two Fires

More than 100 firefighters responded from across the city responded to the fire.

“[We] had heavy fire conditions on the first and second floor. Firefighters made an aggressive attack,” Piringer said.

“We’re all quite fond of Bloomingdale and anything that hurts Bloomingdale hurts all of us,” said Leslie Hagamaster, a resident in the area.

She says she knows the woman who lived inside the home that was destroyed. Hagamaster says she was an anthropologist who kept her work inside the home.

Fire officials say the blaze was so strong that it did cause damage to the next door neighbor’s home as well as the home next to that one.

“One [firefighter] was treated on the scene with a twisted ankle, the other [firefighter] had some minor burns,” said Piringer.

Investigators believe the fire probably started in the basement, but they are still trying to determine an exact cause.

Fire video courtesy of Vito Maggiolo of D.C. Fire and EMS (VIDEO #2)