The driver of a burning pickup truck drove through a red light and pulled in front of a D.C. fire station Wednesday to get help.
Although he pounded on the fire station door, no one answered.
U.S. Secret Service officers grabbed extinguishers and tackled the flames, NBC4 reported.
The fire station doors went up about five minutes later and firefighters finally emerged.
They told the driver he should have rung the doorbell which is not on the front door but on the side of the building.
The firefighters said they were in the back and didn't hearing the pounding on the door.
“DC Fire and EMS would like to thank our law enforcement partners for their actions after witnessing the vehicle fire. Our department is conducting an investigation and upon preliminary review, all of our members in quarters were in the rear of the firehouse and initially unable to hear any knocking on the apparatus bay doors. Our stations are equipped with doorbells that will alert the firehouse and we’re looking in to adding and improving signage outside to direct citizens to doorbell locations. We remind citizens that our department averages 600 calls daily and our units may be out of the station responding to emergencies so if you’re experiencing an emergency to dial 9-1-1. We pride ourselves in swift and professional responses to all fire and medical emergencies,” D.C. fire officials said in a statement.
