Just after 4:00 AM, a triple local alarm was dispatched for smoke in the area of  the 100 block of 56th Street, SE.  As Truck 17 rolled down East Capitol St., they saw fire in the sky in the 100 block of 57th Pl., SE and advised that the box alarm be filled.  Units found a vacant two-story apartment building well involved with fire.  
 

Command 2 immediately ordered firefighters to assume an exterior attack, due to the volume of fire and compromised structural nature of the building. About 20 minutes into the event, operations ordered that a second alarm be transmitted as a precautionary measure.  Trucks 13 and 17 went to heavy duty operation with ladder pipes.

The fire was finally extinguished in about an hour with no injuries.   The cause of the fire is undetermined; however, it was the culmination of a very busy night for DC Fire & EMS, which dealt with several trash and debris fire in the same general area of the second alarm - as well as several other working incidents in the city earlier in the evening.