Fire at Wisconsin Avenue and P Street


About 7 p.m., April 5, a fire broke out on the second floor of 1510 Wisconsin Ave. NW at Grina Architects. Three second floor windows spewed smoke after being smashed by D.C. firefighters, as the shattered glass fell onto the sidewalk. The back of the jewelry and watch repair shop on the ground floor was also involved.

“No one knows how it happened,” said Moshe Motar the owner of the watch repair shop as he took turns with one of the police officers to sweep the glass to the side of the sidewalk. “it may have been [the famous Georgetown] rats who chewed into a live electrical cord” was the general suspicion.

Police and fire trucks shut down a portion of Wisconsin Avenue for some two hours, as buses waited south of the fire — and large ones ventured into the narrow residential streets. Meanwhile, onlookers and neighbors checked out the firefighters’ activity, as they continued to enjoy their pastries or ice cream cones.

Firefighters had to break down the doors in the two businesses to get to the flames. Along with fire and smoke, Motar said, “There is a lot of water damage.”

No sign of any rat bodies until further investigation.

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