WASHINGTON — One man was taken to a hospital in critical condition after being rescued from a fire at a senior housing facility in downtown D.C. early Saturday morning.
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Vito Maggiolo with D.C. Fire said firefighters got the call a little after 4 a.m. and found an apartment on fire on the sixth floor of the building in the 1200 block of M Street Northwest. Maggiolo told WTOP’s John Domen the victim appeared to be in his 70s and was conscious, but in critical condition when he was taken to the hospital. No other injuries were reported. “This is a very large building so the life hazard is considerable, especially considering the age and condition of many of the residents,” Maggiolo said. “We were able to make sure that everybody got to a safe haven as well extinguish the fire, find the victim and ventilate the building from smoke.” Fire officials are still trying to determine what caused the fire. Maggiolo said there were working smoke detectors in the building and in the apartment and investigators are trying to determine whether or not the victim heard them. “Why the gentleman wasn’t alerted to them will be part of the investigation,” he said. “But there was an active smoke detector present and sounding in the apartment.” You can see a map of where the fire happened below. [google_map latitude=”38.905863″ longitude=”-77.028124″ zoom=”13″ height=”300px” location_label=”” dynamic_map=”false”] WTOP’s John Domen contributed to this report.
