Fire rips through historic Eastern Market

From Deputy News Editor Mark Abramson:

An early Monday morning fire at Eastern Market in SE caused severe damage to
the old brick building, leaving some local vendors without their businesses.

Firefighters said they responded almost instantaneously to the “box alarm”
that went off at the Market around 1 a.m.. Engine 18 was the first to arrive on scene,
followed by five engine companies, two truck companies, a rescue squad, and the battalion chief.

“No one was inside” the building, said D.C. Fire Department Sergeant
Darryl Green.

The only part of the building that is fully intact is the museum, which
officials said might have minor smoke damage.”

Spectators and vendors watched the scene unfolding since the early morning
on the sidelines outside the cordoned area, on the block between 7th and C Streets
an 7th Street and North Carolina Avenue.

This afternoon, flames were still
flaring out of a small pocket in the destroyed, charred and blackened roof.
D.C. firefighters put out the last of the fire around 1 p.m. today.

Various local media organizations were among the spectators and vendors, who
by early afternoon had been up since the fire first erupted in the wee hour
of the morning.

No cause of the fire has yet been made certain or made public so far, according
to D.C. Fire investigators, who were already searching and investigating possible
causes of the disaster since early morning.

The same day, fire also ripped through the Georgetown Public Library, potentially
destroying countless records and documents according to an article in The Washington
Past.

The Daily Colonial will have more about the Eastern Market blaze in tomorrow’s
edition.