A pickup truck caught fire and came to a stop outside a firehouse in Northwest D.C. on Wednesday. But it was U.S. Secret Service officers who put the fire out, after D.C. firefighters took five minutes to respond to banging on their door.
News4’s Mark Segraves was sitting at a traffic light at Connecticut Avenue and Porter Street NW at about noon when a pickup truck driver came hauling up the street in the wrong direction, blasting his horn. He ran a red light and stopped near a fire station along Connecticut Avenue.
Cellphone video shows flames leaping from the truck.
The driver and a U.S. Secret Service uniformed officer began banging on the door of the firehouse and trying to get help.
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When no one answered, the officer ran to his car, grabbed a fire extinguisher and started putting out the flames himself.
Within minutes, at least four Secret Service patrol cars stopped traffic on Connecticut Avenue and relayed more fire extinguishers to put out the fire.
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After about five minutes, the doors of the firehouse finally opened and firefighters emerged. The flames were out, but the truck was still smoldering.
The driver of the truck confronted a firefighter and said they had been outside for minutes, banging on the door.
The firefighter replied that he should have rung the doorbell.
The doorbell is on the side of the building, in an alley, and no signage on the front indicates its location.
No one was injured, but the scene was tense and potentially dangerous.
Here’s what DC Fire and EMS said
Firefighters were in the very back of the firehouse and could not hear the banging on the door, a DC Fire and EMS spokesman said. The department will review what happened.
DC Fire and EMS said in a statement: “DC Fire and EMS would like to thank our law enforcement partners for their actions after witnessing the vehicle fire. Our department is conducting an investigation and upon preliminary review, all of our members in quarters were in the rear of the firehouse and initially unable to hear any knocking on the apparatus bay doors. Our stations are equipped with doorbells that will alert the firehouse and we’re looking in to adding and improving signage outside to direct citizens to doorbell locations. We remind citizens that our department averages 600 calls daily and our units may be out of the station responding to emergencies so if you’re experiencing an emergency to dial 9-1-1. We pride ourselves in swift and professional responses to all fire and medical emergencies.”
What to know if you need emergency help outside a DC firehouse
Every D.C. firehouse is equipped with a button on the outside. It’s functional 24/7. Anyone will presses it will be connected with the 911 call center, which will dispatch help.
Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.
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