Firefighters Fall Through Floor Battling Southeast DC Blaze

An early morning fire on March 25, 2003 in the 1800 block of Alabama Ave., SE nearly turned to tragedy this morning as two firefighters fell through the first floor of a burning row house into the basement. Miraculously, neither firefighter suffered serious injury.

Units responded at 6:07 AM for the report of smoke coming from the row house under construction, 1840 Alabama Ave., SE. First arriving firefighters found smoke coming from the roof. Battalion Fire Chief Al Jeffery called for the working fire dispatch as units began making entry. As firefighter Rudy Doering and Lt. E.J. Zbikowski crawled under the smoke on the first floor just inside the front door, a large portion of the floor gave way, and both men fell approximately 10 feet into the concrete basement.