PQ Neighbor Documents Chinatown Fire This Morning
krwaltondc was on the scene this morning at about 10am when a fire broke out at 517-519 H Street NW. The photo set reveals a rooftop rescue that took place at the rear of the building. Click here to see the great pics!
As of tonight, krwaltondc reports that damage seems to have been isolated to the one building with just a couple of windows boarded up.
Being only 2 blocks away from our neighborhood fire station (500 F St NW) must have contributed to the quick response.
Edit: It is also worth mentioning that the DC Fire Department website also posted photos of the incident. The DCFD webmaster usually posts photos of major fires within 24 hours of an event!
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DCFD is indeed fast. One Sunday night around 11:00pm, and being the only pedestrians as far as the eye could reach, we strolled by the Hotel Monaco on the south side. A slumping partygoer (maybe one two many sangrias?) sat (my companion says “wobbled” but you’ll appreciate my diplomacy) on the hotel’s steps. Since he was covered in his own filth while maintaining an admirable nonchalance, we called 911 and advised them of his 8th and E location.
The fire department was there in 78 seconds. I was quite impressed, except they stopped at the 7th and E location, near the former Juan Valdez site.
At first the firemen approached some guy sleeping against the building, and started yelling at him to ask if he was alright. No response. The fireman approached closer, and ended up kicking him a bit to wake him up. SURPRISE! It turned out to be one of those fake-homeless stuffed dummies that you blogged about last year! They laughed and were about to pack it up.
We intervened and pointed out where the guy was. We watched as the ambulance approached the guy, he refused medical attention, and everyone went on their merry way. I guess I wasted some tax dollars on that call.
I imagine the firemen were back at the station around 4 minutes after we had called them. Like I said, fast.