Fire at 400 13th St. NE Was Extinguished Quickly

I was catching up on some yard work Monday afternoon. I heard fire trucks on 13th and, since that is common, I tuned out the racket for a while. I then realized the trucks were stopping someplace close by, on 13th. I put down my weeder and ambled down to 13th and found the intersection at 13th & D blocked off by fire engines and emergency vehicles. It turned out the little church on the corner, at 400 13th, was having some roof work done above the bays when a torch set the roof on fire. The fire was in a small area, so the firemen were able to extinguish the flames quickly. But to do so they needed to do their work in both the first and second floors so it is unclear if the people living in the upstairs apartment will still be able to do so.

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Daniel Floyd, the manager of 400 13th St. NE, and the son of the owners, explained the cause of the fire on Monday afternoon. "We were having a new roof put on, and the material they used was flammable." Workers were using a torch to seal it, he said, and it ignited.

Mr. Floyd said the fire was only on the outside of the building, and that the only damage on the inside was the damage caused by the firemen kicking in the doors and windows. "There's no smoke inside."

Mr. Floyd was upset that the firemen had knocked down some of the doors they knocked down. "There was no damage in that room at all," he said, pointing to the second-story apartment, "but they still kicked it in. It wasn't
necessary." §