A woman was found dead near a flaming gas pump at a gas station at 21st Street and Benning Road Northeast, according to D.C. Fire and EMS.
Firefighters got a call about a fire at the gas station early in the morning on Wednesday. A fire crew responded to the call at 5:37 a.m. and discovered a pump engulfed in flames, says D.C. Fire spokesperson Vito Maggiolo. The fire crew was able to quickly put out the blaze.
Directly adjacent to the pump, firefighters found a fatally injured adult woman. D.C. police have not yet identified her.
D.C. Fire investigators are working on determining the cause of the fire. “We don’t know how the fire began or how she suffered her injuries,” Maggiolo says. The office of the chief medical examiner will perform an autopsy to determine the cause of death.
There were no other patrons present at the gas station at the time, according to Maggiolo. There was also no vehicle nearby.
Natalie Delgadillo