A number of businesses in the historic Florida Avenue Farmer's Market in Northeast Washington were heavily damaged in a fire that began Wednesday night and smoldered until Thursday morning.
The fire broke out at about 10 p.m. in a warehouse packed with clothing and then spread to surrounding businesses, News4's Jackie Bensen reported. Four other businesses - including an acccesories wholesaler and a large, popular meat market - were also damaged and remained closed.
As firefighters battled the blaze, they had to cut power to the whole area - a concern for some of the food wholesalers in the complex, Bensen reported. As of Thursday afternoon, some, but not all, power was restored in the area.
However, no one was injured in the blaze - which is fortunate, because the internal lay-out of the nearly century-old building made the blaze a dangerous one for D.C. firefighters.
Officials are being tight-lipped about the possible cause of the blaze, calling it "undetermined."
The building still has a very old sign that carries its original name, Union Market. That led to some confusion as to whether the structure that caught fire was the newly-opened Union Market Food Hall a block away, the centerpiece of neighborhood's ongoing revitalization.
But the new Union Market building was unharmed. DC.Eater.com reached out to check on its status.
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According to the blog:
Union Market spokeswoman Jessica Bruner said that the fire was on the east side of 4th Street NE where the original Union Market sign was, and spreading a few bays south towards Florida Ave. "None of our properties were affected," she said. An employee answered the phone at A. Literri's this morning said the fire was out of reach of the street from the sandwich shop as well, and the restaurant is open for business today.
