By Petula Dvorak
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 18, 2008

The fire that decimated a Mount Pleasant apartment building and neighboring church last week did at least $20 million in damage, officials said yesterday.

The shell of the apartment building at 3145 Mount Pleasant St. NW has been shored up by scaffolding and support beams, and investigators have been at work in the building, Assistant Fire Chief Lawrence Schultz said.

But they have yet to determine what caused the fire late Wednesday, which left about 200 people homeless.

A dog trained to detect accelerant used in a potential arson found nothing, Schultz said. That doesn't rule out arson, but it makes it less likely, officials said.

Through examination of the scene and at least 70 interviews, officials have determined that the fire began in the northeast corner of the basement of the 93-unit building, beneath apartments 107 and 109, officials said.

It tore through the building, causing about $5 million in damage. Meridian Hill Baptist Church, which lost its roof and was also ravaged by smoke and flames, sustained about $15 million in damage, officials said yesterday.

Many of the families left homeless were moved to a Best Western hotel and are awaiting permanent housing from the city. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) said in a news conference yesterday that the city might have to provide a subsidy to bridge the gap between the rents residents had paid for their Mount Pleasant apartments and rents elsewhere in the D.C. area.

The Columbia Heights/Shaw Family Support Collaborative is also helping create an emergency housing fund to provide rental and other assistance to those families.