WASHINGTON — An early morning fire in Northeast D.C. ripped through a duplex home on Sunday, putting four people in the hospital and displacing eight.
D.C. Fire officials said the fire was in the 400 block of Madison Street, Northeast, in a two-story duplex and that one of the patients hospitalized is in critical life-threatening condition.
The others hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries includes a firefighter, a two-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl.
D.C. fire added that the two-year-old was tossed out of a second-story window to escape the flames and the 14-year-old jumped from the home in order to save herself.
Officials said the fire started when a surge protector overheated.
"And we think that smoke detectors alert alerted them and gave them the edge that enabled them to escape in time and escape serious injury. Unfortunately, we do have one adult female who did suffer serious life-threatening injuries," DC Fire & EMS spokesperson Vito Maggiolo said.
D.C. fire officials said they requested assistance from the Red Cross to help with the displaced people.
A woman who lives next to the family said to add to the family's heartbreak, the little girl who escaped the flames couldn't find her dog.
"The dog didn't come out when the rest of the family escaped the flames," Theresa Dubois said. "So she was left thinking, I guess that the dog perished in the fire."
A few hours later, a reporter with WUSA9 noticed the dog and asked fire officials if a dog was missing from the fire.
After a short chase, the dog was recovered and is temporarily staying with neighbors.
"He's got a good home here until they figure out what they want to do," Carl Griffin said. "They would do the same for us because that's what neighbors do."
Neighbors said they were going to try and contact the hospital so they could let the family know the dog was safe.
Officials first reported they were working the fire at the duplex around 5 a.m.