A teenager is fighting for his life after being rescued from a burning home Sunday in Southeast D.C.
Fire crews were called to the 700 block of Mississippi Avenue SE after a fire broke out in a three-story duplex.
Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire, but they say a teen was rushed to the hospital in critical condition.
"My reaction was, whoever's in there, get them out. Immediately, we got to get them out," neighbor Barbara Bailey said.
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She thought one of her neighbors was barbecuing as they usually do on Sundays.
“I thought he had left the grill on, and I went around and looked in the backyard, and that’s when I saw all the black smoke," Bailey said.
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She immediately called the fire department and her neighbor.
"I said, 'Your house is on fire,'" Bailey said.
The fire department said firefighters were able to rescue a teenager from the top floor of the home.
“While they were fighting fire, the companies… found a juvenile on the third floor in a bedroom and were able to remove him quickly. As soon as he came out, they right away went into life-saving initiatives and responded quickly to a hospital,” Battalion Fire Chief James Gordon said.
Bailey recalled how first responders put the victim on a stretcher and performed CPR.
“I told [my neighbor] tonight, I would look out and make sure that they close up her house, and she need not to come and see what’s happened," she added. "She needs to stay at the hospital and take care of her grandson. We’ll keep praying for him.”
The teen and two adults displaced in the blaze are being assisted by the Red Cross.
One firefighter suffered minor injuries.
Investigators are working to determine the cause of the fire.
