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.