WASHINGTON D.C., DC — A condo building in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of D.C. has been deemed uninhabitable after a Friday night fire destroyed the roof deck, according to DC Fire and EMS.
The blaze started at 8:30 p.m. in the five-story apartment building located on Adams Mill Road. Twenty five units and 100 fire personnel were on scene.
"It was confined to the roof deck, so that was fortunate. Everyone in the bottom floors could safely evacuate," said D.C. Fire and EMS Public Information Officer Vito Maggiolo.
Maggiolo says the structure of the building was not damaged, but fire investigators determined it was unsafe for around 40 residents that live in the building to return.
Saturday evening, residents were seen carrying out their belongings as repair crews assessed the damage.
"We saved this building twice," said Maggiolo to WUSA9 referring to the Oct. 1 2007 four-alarm fire that started near the top floor of the same building.
WUSA9 reporting from the incident indicates that the blaze started at around 1:00 a.m. and quickly spread. A lack of water pressure complicated efforts for fire crews attempting to extinguish the flames.
In both fires, no residents were injured.
"Ironically as our firefighters were working on clearing the wreckage on the roof deck and putting out hot spots. We found a plaque attached to the roof deck commemorating the 2007 fire and thanking us for having saved the building," Maggiolo said.
Maggiolo says that since the 2007 fire, the building has been retrofitted to include a sprinkler system.
Both D.C. Fire and EMS and residents say they have not been given a timeline of when people might be able to move back in.