2 District Residents Killed In Petworth Rowhouse Fire

WASHINGTON, DC — Two elderly District residents died early Thursday morning from injuries they received from a fire at their Petworth home.

D.C. Fire and EMS units were dispatched around 2:49 a.m., for the report of a fire in a rowhouse at 4210 8th St., N.W.

"As the units were responding to the fire, there were reports of people trapped in the home," said Vito Maggiolo, public information officer with D.C. FEMS. "So when we arrived, we had a two-story rowhouse, middle of the row, with very significant fire conditions in the rear of the home. The fire was on the first and the second floor and the rear porch."

Firefighters immediately began attacking the fire while simultaneously searching for victims. They located two individuals, an elderly man and woman. One was located on the first floor and the other on the second floor.

"We got them out of the house and began advanced life support," Maggiolo said.

The victims were taken to an area hospital where they later succumbed to their injuries and were pronounced dead.

Metropolitan Police Department identified the decedents as 91-year-old Lester Wilson and 87-year-old Rosa Wilson.

Firefighters continued aggressively battling the fire, according to Maggiolo.

"It was an offensive attack, meaning we were inside battling the flames," he said. "The fire was threatening to spread into the two adjacent homes. Although there was minimal spread, we were able to cut the flames off before they could get a foothold on the adjacent homes."

After about 20 minutes, the fire was declared under control. D.C. FEMS had about 50 individuals and about 12 pieces of equipment on the scene. One firefighter received minor injuries and was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

"During the course of the firefight, the rear porch area did in fact collapse," Maggiolo said. "The fire was so advanced that it caused the porch to collapse. Fortunately, there were no firefighters injured in that collapse."

Damage at one of the adjacent homes was significant enough to displace two residents.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but investigators were able to determine the home did not have working smoke detectors at the time of the fire.

At 1 p.m. on Thursday, D.C. FEMS plans to return to the neighborhood to distribute fire safety information as part of its After The Fire program.

"When we do have a fatal fire, we go back to those neighborhoods because at that point there's usually a lot of community interest and we hand out fire safety literature," Maggiolo said. "If we encounter any homes without smoke detectors, we'll have them with us and we'll install them."

Thursday morning's fire was significantly advanced by the time D.C. FEMS arrived on the scene. Maggiolo said the lack of working smoke alarms likely contributed to that.

"Fires today, because of the different materials that are used, develop much more rapidly than they did in the past," he said. "You only have like 3 or 4 minutes to escape the home. That's why working smoke alarms are so critical. Because they alert the residents, either at home or in an adjacent home, we get the call earlier. The fires don't get as advanced as they do if there was an early alert."