Fire Kills Woman in Northwest Washington, D.C.

A vacant rowhouse on Kennedy Street, NW burned and a woman died on December 21st, 2009.

Evidently she had sought shelter from the weather and discarded smoking materials were reportedly the cause. The victim is as yet unidentified and is symptomatic of a recurrent problem in the District of Columbia and elsewhere. Homeless facilities are often overcrowded and consequently people seek refuge in abandoned buildings which are susceptible to fire and also provide too little warmth to avoid death by exposure.