Via the DCist tipline, we heard there may have been a fire at year-old Mt. Vernon Square-area coffee shop Breakwell’s, on the corner of 9th and M Streets NW. Sure enough, the windows at the front and along the side of the shop have been boarded up, and there is visible fire damage to the exterior of the building.

While checking out the extent of the damage, DCist chatted with the proprietors of WIDE Prints, a small printing and design firm located in the space above Breakwell’s. They told us the fire was started over the weekend by a group of kids playing with fireworks — the sparks ended up igniting some garbage cans left in the exterior alcove entrance of Breakwell’s, which then shot flames up across the brick facade, blowing out the Pepco meters and electricity hookups at the front of the building in their path. The fire department was responsible for the rest of the damage, according to the guys from WIDE Prints, as they took off the metal bars over the windows and broke the glass in order to fight the blaze. The interior of WIDE was not damaged, while the interior of Breakwell’s mostly just looks like it was damaged by water used by the fire department. Calls to Breakwell’s indicated their phone is not currently working.

Overall, none of the damage looks insurmountable to reopening for either Breakwell’s or WIDE, though they are currently without electricity and will need to spend some time and money cleaning up the mess. But considering this was sparked by kids playing with fireworks, could this incident once again lead to calls for banning their use in the city?