A four-storey apartment building located at 3145 Mount Pleasant St. NW, in the District of Columbia was engulfed by flames, causing the evacuation of almost 200 people living in neighboring buildings.

The fire, which broke out around midnight, damaged a nearby church and forced the evacuation of several buildings in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood.

No residents were injured, as the firefighters’ operations focused on securing the people, District of Columbia Fire Chief Dennis Rubin said. Having been evacuated from the building, the people were loaded on buses to avoid being cold.  

Authorities reported that several streets, including 16th Street northwest are expected to remain closed during the mourning hours. The roof of Meridian Hill Baptist Church, located behind the apartment building, was almost completely destroyed. Four other residential buildings were evacuated, but they were not damaged, and their residents are expected to be allowed to return home today. But those living at 3145 Mount Pleasant are homeless.

“They have nothing now. They'll be lucky to have a couple articles of clothing and some paperwork,” said D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty. Most of the damaged building’s residents are said to be Spanish-speaking immigrants who have been asking the owner of the building to take care of the electrical, plumbing, structural and infestation problems existing in the building.

 “This is a building where every effort has been made for many years to force the tenants out. To make conditions so miserable that they would leave. This is the classic example of eviction by neglect,” D.C. Council member Jim Graham told WTOP radio. 

Hundreds of firefighters arrived at the scene from D.C., Maryland and Virginia, Fenty said. One firefighter, a lieutenant, was taken to a nearby hospital to receive treatment for smoke inhalation, the Washington Post reports.