4-Alarm Fire Breaks Out In NW Apartment Building

A raging fire tore through an apartment house being renovated in Northwest Washington late last night and early this morning, defying hours of intensive efforts to suppress it.

Firefighters arrived on the scene in the 5400 block of First Place NW about 10:30 p.m. and were still trying to control the blaze more than two hours later, said Alan Etter, a spokesman for the D.C. fire and emergency services department.

Just before 1 a.m. today, Etter said, flames were "coming out the windows, coming out of the roof" of the three-story brick building.

Despite the efforts of as many as 200 firefighters, including crews from Prince George's and Montgomery counties, and an apparently unrestricted supply of water, "it's still not going out," Etter said.

It was not clear why the fire continued to blaze, destroying much of the building's roof and sending smoke high into the chill night air. The cause of the fire was not known.

Fire officials sent in a total of four alarms, bringing as many as 65 pieces of equipment to the scene, which is just off North Capitol Street and New Hampshire Avenue. The blaze was the second in a week to prompt at least three alarms.

The first-arriving firefighters knocked on doors inside the building, believing that it was possibly occupied. On learning that it was not, they went outside and fought the blaze from there, Etter said.