Dear PoP – HUGE fire on the corner of Columbia Rd. & Georgia Ave. NW

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The following email was sent at 2am:

“Dear PoP,

Smoke outside is so bad that I couldn’t even walk out my front door to take a picture. I actually smelled the smoke inside my house and thought my house had caught fire. When I determined my house wasn’t on fire, I walked out back to see if one of my neighbors needed help. There were all these rats running down the alley and black smoke billowing around. Then I went to the front of my house and could see that there is a fire truck parked at the corner of Georgia Ave & Columbia Rd. NW. The police and ambulance have all of Georgia Ave between Columbia and Irving blocked off.

It’s been this way for about an hour. Just from walking outside briefly, my clothes reek of smoke. It’s right by that new beautiful park that was built at the end of last summer.”

Fortunately no injuries were reported and @dcfireems wrote:

“120am – 3001 Georgia Av NW – building fire – 2 sty vacant bldg – heavy fire 2 flrs upon arrival”

Normally when these huge fires occur – photos are the most powerful message. However in this case, I found the above sentence – “There were all these rats running down the alley and black smoke billowing around.” evoked an equally powerful image.