Explosion in Northwest Evacuates Two-Block Stretch
(Washington) -- A two-block stretch in Northwest D.C. is being
evacuated after an explosion inside a parking garage.
D.C. Police spokesman Sergeant Joe Gentile says buildings in a two-block radius of 5225
Wisconsin Avenue are being evacuated. Wisconsin Avenue is closed from Harrison Street
up to the Montgomery County line.
Gentile says it's unclear if there was a fire, or just an explosion. He says the evacuations are
a precaution until it's determined whether the blast is the result of some device, or just a car
malfunction.
Gentile says the explosion happened shortly before two afternoon. Police, fire, the bomb
squad and hazmat teams are all on the scene.
The injured man is in serious condition at Washington Hospital Center. Witnesses tell
WRC-TV the man was on fire.
The Jenifer Street Metrorail entrance to Friendship Heights station is closed, but the station
remains open from other entrances.
AB
two-block radius...
Which is it? Two blocks or two-block radius which is considerably more area.
The fact that people are being evaculated at all implies something more than just a single car exploding.
In Israel, they don't evacuate the surrounding area after every car bomb unless they fear further explosions.
Fire spokeswoman: Explosion triggered fire
(Washington-AP) -- DC Fire says an explosion in a car triggered a fire that badly injured a man inside a Northwest garage this afternoon.
Fire Department spokeswoman Lisa Bass also says the 21-year-old victim was badly burned.
A witness says he saw the victim burned from the waist down, lying on his stomach, at the bottom of the garage ramp. The man is in serious condition at Washington Hospital Center.
A two block radius around the garage -- in the 52-hundred block of Wisconsin Avenue -- has been evacuated. DC Police spokesman Joe Gentile says that's a precaution until the cause of the explosion is determined. The Mazza Galleries is among the buildings evacuated.
Wisconsin Avenue is closed from Harrison Street up to the Montgomery County line. The Jenifer Street Metrorail entrance to Friendship Heights station is closed, but the station remains open from other entrances.