Residents of over two dozen apartment units were displaced Sunday after a major fire in a Northeast D.C. senior living community that left three firefighters and two others injured.
D.C. Fire and EMS were dispatched to the 3400 block of Banneker Drive, off Bladensburg Road near Fort Lincoln Park, shortly after 5 a.m. Sunday.
They found flames showing from the second floor of the Fort Lincoln apartments, a five-story residential building described on the D.C. Housing Authority’s website as a mid-rise, single bedroom development servicing senior and disabled citizens.
The incident was upgraded to two alarms. Eighty firefighters responded, the fire department tweeted, later adding it had helped several distressed residents to safety or to shelter-in-place.
At least three firefighters and two of the building’s occupants were transported to a hospital with injuries not considered life-threatening.
Residents of 25 apartments on the second and third floor are displaced from their homes, D.C. Fire said. The city’s housing authority and capital region Red Cross are on scene rendering assistance.
#DCsBravest gaining entry to fire during 2nd Alarm at 3400 Bannaker Dr. NE. 3 firefighters & 2 civilians currently transported to hospitals with non life threatening injuries. Numerous occupants in distress, many non ambulatory, were assisted to safety or sheltered in place. pic.twitter.com/QoQBA3dERn
— DC Fire and EMS (@dcfireems) December 15, 2019
As of Sunday morning, fire officials had been unable to ascertain a cause for the massive blaze.
WTOP’s Fonda Mwangi contributed to this report.
