As many marched through the streets of D.C. to protest the death of Minneapolis man George Floyd, flames could be seen late Saturday night near The Hay-Adams hotel on 16th Street Northwest.
“When we arrived what we found is a several story high scaffolding that was part of a construction site along with the trash chute that they used to dump debris down from the upper floors to a dumpster below,” said D.C. Fire and EMS spokesman Vito Maggiolo.
Maggiolo said a wooden section of the scaffolding was entirely engulfed in flames, but firefighters were able to control it fairly quickly.
Some people in the area thought that the hotel was on fire, but flames were entirely on the exterior, according to Maggiolo.
“There was no fire extension into The Hay-Adams whatsoever,” Maggiolo said.
Update 800 block 16th St NW. #DCsBravest Tower 3, our aerial platform, extinguishs remaining pockets of fire in construction scaffolding. There was no fire extension into Hay-Adams Hotel. We also extinguished 2 vehicle fires & 1 dumpster fire in the same general area. pic.twitter.com/zTHmUbvlji
— DC Fire and EMS #StayHomeDC Lite (@dcfireems) May 31, 2020
He said there were no injuries reported in the fire.
The Hay-Adams has been temporarily closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Firefighters also responded to two vehicle fires overnight as well as several dumpster, trash bin and small bush fires.
Maggiolo said that one D.C. fire truck was also damaged from flying debris during the protests.
