Washington D.C. firefighters battled a spectacular two alarm blaze that badly damaged a former D.C. public housing apartment building converted into eight town homes.
The fire erupted around 4:30 on the afternoon of Sunday, October 8th, in the three story occupied structure at 2255 15th Street N.E. Fire showing from two windows on the top floor quickly sweep up into a lightweight truss rain roof, built over the original building's flat roof.
Recognizing the collapse potential of the lightweight construction, incident commander Battalion 1 Kevin Sloan ordered all units to evacuate the building and initiated an exterior, master stream attack.
After all heavy fire had been knocked down, firefighters reentered the structure, pulling ceilings and extinguishing numerous remaining pockets of fire.
The second alarm assignment brought ten engines, five trucks, two heavy rescues, an air unit, three battalion chiefs, the Firefighting Deputy, Hazmat Unit, and a large EMS component to the scene. The Friendship Fire Association, D.C.'s fire buff club, staffed a canteen and rehab unit.
