Fire under the food truck roof. We continue to work on final extinguishment. pic.twitter.com/HKTn6Ohi0b
— DC Fire and EMS (@dcfireems) June 16, 2016
A food truck on Capitol Hill caught fire about noon today, according to authorities.
The Angry Burger food truck was parked near the Capitol South Metro station at 1st and D streets SE when the blaze broke out in the vehicle’s vent system.
No injuries were reported, D.C. Fire and EMS spokesman Vito Maggiolo told Hill Now.
“It’s under control,” he said.
Final 735 N. Cap.St NE. Roof fire under control. Govt Print Office Warehouse. Accidental origin. No injs. pic.twitter.com/3G7PHBmcG0
— DC Fire and EMS (@dcfireems) June 2, 2016
Firefighters extinguished a “small fire” on a roof of a building in NoMa earlier this afternoon.
The fire broke out atop a three-story warehouse at 735 N Capital St. NE just before 4 p.m. today, according to D.C. Fire and EMS.
Nobody was injured during the blaze, and authorities said the cause of the fire was accidental.
Photo via Twitter / D.C. Fire and EMS
Capitol Hill Intersection Named Among Most Dangerous for Cyclists — The intersection of 8th and F streets NE was listed among those with the most reported accidents involving bicycles. [Washingtonian]
Car Catches Fire Near Capitol Hill Hyatt — Yesterday morning a car fire broke out near the intersection of 1st and E streets NW behind the Capitol Hill Hyatt. Nobody was in the car at the time and authorities successfully put out the fire. [WJLA]
Alcoholic Control Board Approves Bulldog Bagel Application in Eastern Market — The District Alcoholic Control Board approved Bullfrog Bagel’s application to serve bagels, brunch and booze at their new location at 317 Seventh St. SE near Eastern Market. [Hill Rag]
Survey Showing Native Americans’ Indifference to ‘Redskins’ Name Could Affect Decision on New Stadium — A Washington Post poll that found that most Native Americans are not offended by the Redskins name, which could affect how officials view the push to move the team’s stadium back into the District. [Washington Post]
(Updated at 8:10 a.m.) An electrical fire broke out on the tracks at Union Station this morning, slowing Amtrak, MARC and VRE trains entering and leaving the District, according to rail officials.
MARC-All service is resumed trains will operate at restricted speed. Expect major delays in both directio https://t.co/pFECeiwPUJ
— MTA Maryland (@mtamaryland) February 24, 2016
Trains are on the move in and out of Union Station, trains will operate at slower speeds. Train 310 and 328 are delayed approx. 10-15 mins.
— VRE (@VaRailXpress) February 24, 2016
Normal service restored Baltimore, MD (BAL) to Washington, DC (WAS). Expect residual delays.
— Amtrak Northeast (@AmtrakNEC) February 24, 2016
It wasn’t immediately clear if there were any injuries. Metro service wasn’t affected.
We’ll update this story as more information is known.
Hill East residents are raising money for a family whose house was damaged in a fire on Sunday.
A fundraising page set up by neighbors says that no one was injured in the fire but many personal belongings were destroyed or damaged. The fire broke out on the second floor of the family’s house on the 1800 block of Bay Street SE before sunrise Sunday.
The fundraiser was started by a group of neighbors identified only as “Bay Street Neighbors.”
So far, the fundraising page has raised more than half of its $2,000 goal. The Bay Street Neighbors who created the donation page could not be reached immediately to comment on the fund.
Photo via YouCaring/ Bay Street Neighbors
Three restaurants at the Maine Avenue Fish Market were closed this morning due to a minor fire last night at Jessie’s Cooked Seafood.
Though the fire only caused very minor damage at Jessie’s, all three restaurants that share the barge are closed until they can be inspected by the health department. The other affected eateries are Jimmy’s Grill #1 and Captain White’s Fresh Cooked Seafood and Crabs.
The fire broke out in the kitchen of Jessie’s Cooked Seafood around 7 p.m. yesterday. Greg Evans, the manager of Jessie and Taylor’s Seafood, said that people at the fish market were able to mostly put out the fire with fire extinguishers before the fire department arrived and there were no injuries.
The fire caused very minor damage, Evans said, estimating that repairs would cost a few hundred dollars at most. He said that none of the equipment in the kitchen was damaged and the other eateries appear entirely unaffected.
“Always after a fire there has to be an inspection, but everything is operating,” Evans said. “They just have to check all the boats in the vicinity before we can open.”
Jessie and Taylor’s Seafood, which sells raw seafood on a separate barge, opened at its normal time this morning, as did several other raw seafood sellers at the market.
Employees were at all three restaurants this morning, though they could not sell food until the Health Department inspection. Evans said the Health Department would be inspecting the eateries today, but he was not given an exact time.
Firefighters rushed to Rosedale last night to put out a blaze that hit a row house.
The fire was reported in a room on the second floor of the house at 1638 Kramer Street NE, the District of Columbia Firefighters Association tweeted about 7:15 p.m. By 8:30 p.m., firefighters had extinguished the blaze.
Working fire. 1600 block of Kramer St NE. Room off second floor.
— DC Fire Fighters L36 (@IAFF36) October 7, 2015
Update on the working fire.1600 block of Kramer St NE.Quick work by units on the scene.Fire is out. Searches negative.No injuries reported.
— DC Fire Fighters L36 (@IAFF36) October 8, 2015
No injuries were reported, D.C. Fire and EMS Department spokesman Oscar Mendez confirmed. But four adults were displaced after the fire. At least some of them were in the house at the time of the blaze, said neighbor Maureen Benitz, who called 911 to report the fire.
“It smelled kind of like someone was having a barbecue,” said Benitz, 36. “It had that plasticky propane smell. But I didn’t see anything on fire.”
The cause of the fire still is under investigation, Mendez said.
On Kramer Street this morning, the front windows of the house hit by the fire were boarded up and a blue tarp hung over the rear exterior of the second floor. Charred wood, insulation and other debris also covered a deck in the back.
“It’s eerie how there is no damage to my house,” said Benitz, who has lived on Kramer Street for 10 years. “These houses are like tinder boxes. If flames had started jumping from deck to deck, it could’ve set the whole block on fire.”
Fire Shut Down Stadium-Armory Station for Nearly 10 Hours — Fire officials still are investigating the cause of a fire at a Metro power facility that burned throughout the day yesterday, closing the nearby Stadium-Armory Metro station for most of the day. [NBC Washington]
New Restaurant and Wine Bar to Open Near Lincoln Park — Lincoln Park Kitchen and Wine Bar, which will replace Ninnella Italian restaurant at the corner of 13th and East Capitol streets SE, is slated to open in early October. [Barred in DC]
Capitol Hill School Accused of Violating Rules on Standardized Tests — The Capitol Hill campus of Center City Public Charter Schools is one of six D.C. schools accused of violating standardized testing rules. Students at Center City said a test administrator encouraged them to change their answers to some questions. [Washington Post]
Restaurant Near U.S. Capitol Will Close if Forced to Remove Patio Seating, Eatery’s Owners Say — Owners of The Alibi restaurant at 237 2nd St. NW said a District Department of Transportation order to remove their sidewalk patio enclosure will eliminate two-thirds of the eatery’s seating and force it to shut down. [PoPville]
(Updated at 12:30 p.m.) A “small fire” broke out in the control room of a Pepco substation in Southwest this morning, a Pepco spokesman said.
The D.C. Fire and EMS Department received a report of a fire at the power company’s facility at Half and T streets SW about 9 a.m., according to the agency said. The substation sits on land that is slated to become part of the future D.C. United stadium at Buzzard Point.
No injuries from the fire have been reported. Electricity service also wasn’t affected, Pepco spokesman Marcus Beal said.
The fire was caused by electrical equipment that overheated, Deputy Fire Chief John Donnelly said. Some of Pepco’s equipment was damaged from the fire and smoke, he added.
By about 10:45 a.m., the fire was extinguished, according to D.C. Fire and EMS. But firefighters still were working to contain the smoke.
“It’s a big enclosed building with a lot of electrical equipment so it could be dangerous,” Donnelly said. “We need to be careful as we proceed.”
Photo via Twitter/DC Fire and EMS
A Capitol Hill-area school playground damaged by a fire this summer likely won’t open completely to children by the start of classes later this month, a D.C. Public Schools representative said today.
Repairs to the Miner Elementary School playground are expected to take until September or October to complete, DCPS spokeswoman Anna Gregory said. But the school at 601 15th St. NE is set to begin classes Aug. 24.
During the playground closure, students will have use of other play equipment and a field.
“The replacement equipment to repair the damaged equipment has been ordered, and repairs will begin as soon as those items arrive,” Gregory said in an email.
The July 29 fire severely damaged a slide and a staircase at the playground.
When a Hill Now reporter visited the area this week, orange netting wrapped around the section of the playground hit by the blaze. The slide and the stairway also were gone.
Fencing was installed in the playground to block access to the areas where the slide and the staircase once stood.
Police still are investigating the cause of the fire, Gregory said. The blaze caused no injuries.
A fire took hold at a playground near the H Street corridor last night, damaging the area, but causing no injuries, according to authorities.
Firefighters responded to a report of a fire at Miner Elementary School’s playground about 7 p.m., D.C. Fire and EMS Department spokesman Timothy Wilson said. The school is at 601 15th St. NE.
Police described the blaze as a “small brush fire” that caused “minor property damage.”
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
The playground was surrounded by caution tape and smelled like burnt plastic this morning. Within the taped-off area, a yellow slide and a staircase had noticeable damage.
The slide was missing its bottom half, which the fire appears to have melted away. The staircase had scorch marks.
A fire broke out in a home in Southwest yesterday afternoon, according to the District of Columbia Firefighters Association.
The blaze was seen on the second floor of an apartment building on the 200 block of P Street SW, across from Fort McNair, the firefighters group tweeted about 5:45 p.m.
Police temporarily closed the 200 to 300 blocks of P Street as firefighters worked to extinguish the fire, according to a D.C. government alert. By 8:45 p.m., the street was reopened.
Hill Now couldn’t immediately confirm the cause of the fire or whether anyone was injured in the blaze. But people on P Street today with knowledge of the fire said the blaze didn’t appear to injure anyone.
A D.C. Fire and EMS Department representative didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
On P Street this morning, the back patio of a second floor apartment in the St. James Mutual Homes complex showed signs of fire damage. The patio’s roof was scorched and charred clothes, wooden boards and other debris were on the grass outside the building.
(Updated at 4:10 p.m.) The memorial service for Lt. Kevin McRae, who died last week fighting a fire in Shaw, will be held tomorrow in the D.C. Armory — and officials are seeking volunteers to help with the event.
The viewing will begin at 9 a.m. Friday at the Armory (2001 East Capitol St. SE), and the service is set to start at 11 a.m., Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office and the D.C. Fire and E.M.S. Department announced today. Both ceremonies will be open to the public.
Volunteers are needed for three-hour shifts between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. People interested in helping should send an email to [email protected].
McRae’s body will be led to Fort Lincoln Cemetery in a procession that will cross the city.
McRae collapsed May 6 after fighting a fire in an apartment building on 7th Street NW and later died in a hospital. He was 44.
“The District lost one of its heroes last week in a tragic fire,” Seth Shapiro, Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Ward 6 liaison, said in an email.
“Lt. Kevin McRae dedicated his life to serving as a firefighter for 24 years, and while we are deeply saddened by this loss, we are committed to honoring his life and his legacy.”
Image via D.C. Fire and E.M.S. Department
A stretch of the Metropolitan Branch Trail in NoMa reopened yesterday after a fire damaged an entrance to the path.
The portion of the trail between L and M streets NE is open now to bicyclists and runners, following a fire that set an L Street stairway to the path ablaze April 18. The cause of the fire is unclear.
The District Department of Transportation tweeted yesterday afternoon, “DDOT beats the fire,” along with a photo showing new steps and railings for the staircase.
In the days after the fire, yellow caution tape blocked access to the stairway, which were charred at the top. Part of the staircase was missing, and a pile of burnt wood laid on the trail near L Street.
The 8-mile trail runs from Union Station to Silver Spring.
Photo via Twitter/DDOT
(Updated at 3:45 p.m.) Flames and black smoke poured out of a car parked on H Street NE this afternoon.
The fire on the northwest corner of 10th and H streets NE, in front of Park’s Hardware (920 H St. NE), broke out before 1 p.m. and blocked westbound traffic on H Street, police said.
Eyewitness Kevin Williams said he saw smoke start to pour out of the closed windows of the navy blue Audi A6 as he walked along H Street. Then, the seemingly unattended car burst into flames.
“I thought it was going to blow up,” he said.
Images captured at the scene show red flames jumping about 20 feet high. Firefighters hosed down and extinguished the blaze in about a minute, the images show.
Firefighters were on the scene about 12:50 p.m., D.C. Fire and EMS spokesman Oscar Mendez said. No injuries were reported.
The Audi with shattered windows, charred seats and a bent hood was still at the curb about 2:30 p.m. The driver’s side door was ajar, and broken glass and other debris covered the streetcar tracks.
Testing of a westbound streetcar appeared to be momentarily delayed about a half block east of the fire about 1:30 p.m. Testing was later resumed.
Firefighter photos courtesy of Edward Foster
