Tragedy from DCFD

From DCFD official web page:

UPDATE: 06/05/1999

Firefighter Anthony Phillips laid to rest.  Details of funeral.   

Firefighter Louis Matthews laid to rest.  Details of funeral

UPDATE: 06/02/1999

On 6-1-99 F/F Joe Morgan successfully under went one of several surgeries. The next procedure is scheduled
for Friday 6-4-99.

Wednesday 6-2-99, It was reported that he was able to sit up in bed and write notes to his family.

Please continue to keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

The details:

                                        DC Firefighters Killed in the Line of Duty



On Sunday May 30, 1999 at 0016 hours the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical
Services Department received a call for the report of a house on fire at 3146 Cherry NE. Fire units
arrived on the scene within four minutes and calls for additional units were made at 0023 hours and
again at 0033 hours.

Engine Company No.26 was the first to arrive and reported smoke showing. They,along with Engine
Company No.10, entered the first floor at the front door and proceeded down a hallway toward the
rear of the house. F/F Anthony Phillips of Engine Company No.10 was advancing a back up line to
assist the crew of Engine Company No.26, Lieutenant Charles Redding, F/F Lewis Matthews and
F/F Joe Morgan. As conditions deteriorated, a flash over occurred thereby trapping the firefighters.
F/F Phillips was removed from the building and transported to the Burn Unit at the Washington
Hospital Center where he later succumbed. An autopsy has revealed that he died of "asphyxiation
due to inhalation of superheated air, soot, and smoke."

F/F Matthews received burns up to 90% of his body and died at approximately 1445 hrs. 5-31-99.
F/F Morgan received burns to 60% of his body and is in critical condition. LT. Redding received
burns to 15-20% of his body and was released at 1300hrs. on 5-31-99. F/F Stanley Tapir, Engine
Company No.12, suffered from smoke inhalation while assisting in the rescue efforts and was treated
and released from the Washington Hospital Center.

The fire, which is under investigation, apparently started in the basement and progressed up the
basement stairs to the first floor, A smoke detector was in the house and alerted the residents who
then made their way out to safety.

F/F Phillips is the 96th District of Columbia firefighters to die in the line of duty and the first line of
duty death since Sergeant John M. Carter died in a grocery store fire at 4th and Kennedy Streets,
NW on October 24, 1997.

F/F Louis Matthews is the 97th District of Columbia firefighter to die in the line of duty.

Articles from the Washington Post Newspaper.

    -article #1 05/31/99

    -article #2 06/01/99

    -article #3 06/05/99 referencing the burial of firefighter Phillips

Pictures from the scene of the tragedy........

                       Front of building          Front of building         Basement entrance        Rear of building

                   Basement steps            Site where men found           Basement                     Basement

Memorial placed in front of 3146 Cherry Rd NE.