House collapses in NE blaze

Part of a house in the District's H street NE corridor collapsed last night as firefighters battled a spectacular fire, authorities reported.

No injuries were reported in the blaze, which broke out about 9:30 p.m. in the 800 block of 10th Street NE, said D.C. fire department spokesman Pete Piringer.

He said that as firefighters were trying to quell a blaze in one house on the block, the front wall and porch of an adjacent house fell in.

Both houses appeared to be unoccupied, he said. However, he said, a family of two adults and two children were displaced from a house on the other side of the one that caught fire.

Witnesses saw flames shooting through the roof of the burning house, as firefighters worked on a street that soon became slick with ice in the night's wind and freezing temperatures.

H Street NE, a major city artery just south of the block where the fire broke out, was shut down for a time.