SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — One person died and one is in critical condition after a fire early Saturday at a high-rise apartment building in a suburb of Washington, D.C., the Washington Post and other local media reported.
The fire in downtown Silver Spring sent more than a dozen other people, including three firefighters, to the hospital and displaced more than 400 residents, the Post reported.
Officials told the newspaper that the fire was reported in an apartment on the seventh floor of Arrive, a 15-story building, and estimated the damage at $2 million.
Vic Washington, who lives on the third floor, told the Post that he heard two explosions around 6 a.m.
“It definitely startled me,” he said. “The alarms were going off. It was very traumatic.”
Montgomery County Fire Chief Scott E. Goldstein said the cause of the fire is under investigation.
Godstein added that officials are aware of reports of loud booms and that they believe they could be related to aerosol cans that were in the apartment. He said the fire was contained to an apartment on the seventh floor.
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