People Jump Out of Windows as Fire Rages in NW DC Apartment Building

Steve Burns

WMAL.com

WASHINGTON – (WMAL) Firefighters described a dramatic scene – people hanging out of windows and, in some cases, jumping out of them – when they arrived at a massive fire inside an apartment building in the Brightwood neighborhood of Northwest D.C. early Saturday morning.

Firefighters first pulled up to the 1300 block of Peabody Street NW around 3:00am, firefighters said. Flames had soon engulfed the third floor of the building and were shooting through the roof. But firefighters had more pressing concerns first, Chief Greg Dean told reporters.

We have had to resume outside attack on Peabody St fire. Media staging 14th & Peabody Sts NW. We have only had 1 Pt. Tx with a minor inj. pic.twitter.com/s2hbDfR7ca

— DC Fire and EMS (@dcfireems) June 24, 2017

“The first units on scene, we had people hanging out of windows. We were also told when we got here a couple people from the second floor had jumped. Firefighters were able to catch them,” Dean said. “We had a pretty chaotic scene for life safety, while at the same time we had a heavy fire. Our first job was to deal with the life safety, dealt with that, then the firefighting itself.”

Peabody St 2nd Alarm deteriorating conditions top floor forced us to begin attacking fire from exterior. Approx 100 FFs manning 20 units pic.twitter.com/KbgULdiOY4

— DC Fire and EMS (@dcfireems) June 24, 2017

Dean said one civilian and four firefighters were taken to the hospital, all with minor injuries. Four people were also treated at the scene for minor injuries. The Red Cross also responded to help make arrangements for those displaced by the fire.

“We took the roof off of these units, but you still have fire in the walls and everything else,” he said. “This will be burning for a while.”