By Bill Turque
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 5, 2008

A smoky two-alarm fire damaged four Dupont Circle buildings early yesterday afternoon, routing lunchtime diners from two popular restaurants but injuring no one, authorities said.

Fire officials said the blaze in the 1200 block of 19th St. NW appears to have started in the kitchen of Penang, a Malaysian restaurant at 19th and M streets. It most likely spread through a vent above the stove and into portions of three adjacent five-story rowhouse-style buildings that include offices, a Starbucks and Porter's, a bar and restaurant at 1207 19th St. NW.

The official cause of the fire is under investigation, "but it looks to be accidental," said D.C. Fire and Emergency Services spokesman Alan Etter.

Kevin Moran, owner of Integral, a consulting firm at 1203 19th St. NW, said he was having lunch with a colleague down the block when he noticed smoke pouring from the roof above his fifth-floor office.

"It was unbelievable," he said. "Black, black smoke." Damage to his office and most of the upper floors was primarily from smoke and water, officials said.

At the height of the blaze, 110 firefighters responded to the two alarms, Etter said.

Officials said Penang appeared to be the most seriously damaged business. Fire Capt. K.R. Moore said that firefighters were forced to cut a hole through the second-floor ceiling of the restaurant and that the joists between the second and third floors had been weakened by the blaze.