Looks like a fire gutted the building at 1617 Massachusetts Avenue NW. I couldn’t get close enough to see what building it was, but it’s situated between the Australian Embassy and Johns Hopkins University. Mass Ave was closed for a good stretch of time and traffic diverted onto Rhode Island Avenue as a result. Photo after the jump.
A man suspected in setting the iconic Burning Man aflame too early was arrested again in San Francisco on a similar charge: trying to burn down Grace Cathedral.
Deputy Chief Morris Tabak said [Paul David] Addis had only a small amount of explosives.
“Did he have the capability to do substantial damage? Absolutely not,” Tabak said.
I guess he likes fire. (link via Ron’s Log)
These are my links for 18 Jun:
Eastern Market is a one-of-a-kind D.C. landmark — the last standing public market still in use, that is, until today. A fire tore through Eastern Market early this morning, destroying the historic building.
Although I don’t get to visit it often, I’m deeply saddened by the loss; hopefully, it’ll only be a temporary one. Nearby residents fought to keep it open when big-chain supermarkets began moving to the area. If the comments on Marc Fisher’s Washington Post blog entry are any indication, they’ll fight to rebuild it too.
And that can’t happen soon enough.
See also: My photos of Eastern Market (pre-fire) on Flickr.
After work yesterday, I took photos of the destruction at Eastern Market. Pictures cannot do justice to what I saw; the interior is completely destroyed. Stalls were left charred. Electric wires swung about. Windows frames that weren’t destroyed had yellowed, melted plexiglass covering their gaps. That’s just what I could see from outside looking through open doors and broken windows.
Worse than seeing the damage was the smell. A combination of burnt plastic, insulation, produce, meat, wires and wood combined to form a strange odor. No doubt it will get worse as any meats — cooked or otherwise — left behind rot.
Mayor Fenty pledges to rebuild the Market, but it can’t happen soon enough. Eastern Market is vital to the community; local businesses (and a couple of corporate ones) sprang up nearby because of the Market’s draw. It afforded visitors a cross-section of Washington life you don’t get to see in the tourist zone. And it gave area residents a comparably-priced alternative to the local megamarts that specialize in food grown for quantity, not quality.
Before I left for the office this morning, I ate a bowl of cereal topped with strawberries my roommate picked up from Eastern Market on Sunday. I realized how much we take the Market for granted at home; we can never find produce that good at Safeway or Giant.
The Capitol Hill Community Foundation is accepting contributions for the vendors affected by the fire. Please give if you can; if you do, be sure to designate it for Eastern Market’s vendors.