Three adults and an eight-month old child were helped from a burning apartment in Northeast Washington today.
Units in the fourth battalion responded at 11:15 AM for the report of an apartment fire, 1450 Somerset Pl., NW. Engine 22 arrived to heavy smoke and some fire visible from a third story apartment. Units took their positions as firefighters began an interior attack.
On side two of the building, some residents had opened windows and were literally hanging outside in order to breathe. Truck 11's M.P. Lawler assisted a woman and her child from their apartment and through a smoke-filled corridor to safety.
Members of Engine 4 assisted two men from another apartment, firefighter S.G. Brookbank removing his own mask to allow one of the men to breathe until they could get out of the building.
The woman helped by FF Lawler was treated by EMS on the scene for minor smoke inhalation. She was not transported for hospital care.
Sgt. Phil Proctor reports the cause of the fire is accidental, the result of food burning on the stove. The fire extended to the cabinets. Damage is estimated at $15,000.
