Fire department officials found an unidentified dead body inside the remnants of a rowhouse that caught fire in upper Columbia Heights this morning. The two-alarm fire at 1032 Quebec Place NW happened just after 8 a.m. WJLA (which has the wrong address on their web story) says that it took about an hour for D.C. firefighters to subdue the blaze, and that the house had no working smoke detectors and “cluttered, pack-rat conditions.” Neighbors told the news channel that a single woman in her 50s or 60s lived in the house, but no ID has been able to be made yet. City Desk further reports that fire officials are not yet sure if the individual died because of the fire, or if he or she was dead before the fire began.
One firefighter was taken to the hospital with high blood pressure. A dog found alive inside a cage in the home was rescued.
Photo by jamietre
