By Sarah Anne Hughes and Benjamin R. Freed
Updated: 11:06 p.m.
More than 100 D.C. firefighters worked to put out a four-alarm blaze that consumed Frager’s Hardware on Capitol Hill. The fire, which started shortly after 6 p.m., burned through the 90-year-old community landmark, which is located at 1115 Pennsylvania Avenue SE, and jumped to three surrounding buildings. Shortly after 10 p.m., the fire appeared to be out.
The fire sent up a massive plume of black smoke visible across much of D.C. and the immediate suburbs. It also made for an eerie backdrop to Nationals Park ahead of tonight’s game there.
Charles Allen, chief of staff to Councilmember Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), said that all Frager’s employees made it out of the store safely. Frager’s staff approached by DCist declined to talk about the blaze.
Two firefighters sustained minor injuries and were taken to a hospital, a D.C. Fire Department official told the media at a press conference.
City officials advised nearby residents to remain in their homes “with the air conditioning on, but the windows closed, as prolonged exposure to smoke from the fire could potentially be hazardous to your health.”
Pennsylvania Avenue SE is currently closed off in both directions between Ninth and 13th streets.
Hundreds of people were gathered near the fire, some in Frager’s t-shirts.
A few Hill residents said the fire reminded them of the blaze that damaged Eastern Market in 2007.
“We’re here for everything,” Hill resident Erica Priest said of the store. “They’re so nice and so caring. We’re hoping that, like Eastern Market, they’re fully insured and can be back in no time.”
Many in the crowd said they would rally around the hardware store and its employees.
Wells told DCist the community would support Frager’s , although he said the building appeared to be a “total loss.”
But just a few hours after the fire broke out, the rallying began. Fred Herrmann, the vice president of operations for the Matchbox group of restaurants, wrote in an email to the Hill East listserv that Frager’s employees seeking temporary work should stop by the restaurant’s Capitol Hill location Thursday between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.
Speaking to television reporters, Mayor Vince Gray called the loss of Frager’s Hardware “painful” to the Capitol Hill community and D.C. at large. “I don’t think there’s anyone who’s been here a year who doesn’t know Frager’s,” he told WTTG. Gray said he, too, has been a customer of the mainstay store.
The mayor added that commuters tomorrow should anticipate continued closures of eastbound lanes of Pennsylvania Avenue near the flame-gutted hardware store. Gray added that while westbound lanes will be open to traffic, Gray said drivers should nonetheless seek alternate routes. He also reiterated an earlier advisory that residents of Capitol Hill and surrounding neighborhoods keep their windows shut and run their air conditioning to avoid exposure to fumes released by the blaze.
Photo by Sarah Anne Hughes
