Water Main Impedes Battle With NW Fire

"You have to have [water] pressure and volume," Rubin said as he stood in front of the building at noon, smoke still wafting out of the gaping hole left when the red tile roof collapsed into the fourth-floor condos. "Here we had none. You have to have both."

D.C. Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), who represents the neighborhood, also blasted WASA, which has come under public scrutiny in recent years over safety issues.

High lead levels in D.C. drinking water posed a potential health hazard from 2001 to 2004, and WASA was faulted for failing to alert its more than 1 million Washington customers about the problem for several years. The agency later agreed to replace all lead pipes in the city. This year, after the library fire, WASA stepped up repairs to hundreds of hydrants.

Rubin criticized WASA this spring for not marking hydrants that were broken. He made a similar complaint yesterday, saying firefighters have no way of knowing whether areas have adequate water pressure and supply. The chief, who took over in April, said he did not know until yesterday of the problems with mains.

Graham, who as chairman of the council's Committee on Public Works and the Environment has oversight authority over WASA, said he will demand answers about whether the water supply in Adams Morgan, one of the city's most densely populated neighborhoods, is adequate.

"We had a tragedy here, but God smiled on us here last night. The residents got out," Graham said at a midday news conference outside the building. "But the major question here is relating to the Water and Sewer Authority. There was a period of time when we did not have the water pressure we needed to fight this fire. . . . Four-alarm fires are admittedly rare and unusual, but this neighborhood and all neighborhoods need to be assured we can fight them."

The difficulties in Adams Morgan quickly became apparent after firefighters arrived on the scene. They opened four hydrants but were able to get only about 600 gallons of water per minute, far less then the 3,500 gallons per minute needed to fight the fire, Assistant Fire Chief Lawrence Schultz said.

"We had absolute minimal amount of water in the beginning stages when we first started," he said. "We barely had enough."

Within 30 minutes, the water slowed to a trickle. Firefighters tried without success to open more than a dozen hydrants around the building, Schultz said. Extra fire engines were called in with special water-supply functions, including one from as far away as Anacostia.

For the next 25 minutes, firefighters scrambled around Adams Morgan, looking for a hydrant that had an adequate water supply. Finally, firefighters ran 3,000 feet of fire hose east to 16th Street and Columbia Road NW and another 4,000 feet west to Connecticut Avenue and Calvert Street, hooking up to two fire hydrants that gave them the water they needed. The fire was declared under control about 5:30 a.m., Schultz said.

The Red Cross assisted some residents, including several who were placed in a downtown hotel. Many residents talked about their efforts to get out and the firefighters' attempts to put out the flames.

Sam Edwards, 29, and her fiance had just returned from a weekend away and were catching up on reading and correspondence in their top-floor duplex when Edwards heard a noise, she recalled. "In hindsight, it sounded like crackling," she said.

"When I looked out of our windows, the adjacent building was glowing. I ran out into the hallway, but there was no smoke, but when I went on the stairwell, it was hazy," she said. "There's a fire!" she said she shouted to her fiance. The two split off and starting banging on their neighbors' doors. As they ran down the stairwell, she said, firefighters were pouring into the building.

In her haste, Edwards left behind her engagement ring, given to her only a few weeks before. Somehow, firefighters managed to recover it, she said, showing off the three-diamond band glinting on her left ring finger. "It was a very tiny item in a very big fire," Edwards said.

Staff writers Delphine Schrank and Debbi Wilgoren contributed to this report.