The Peggy Cooper Cafritz manse burns to the ground; D.C. Council gins up new revenue; gay lawyer says cop called him a fag; Fox 5 keeps the heat on OUC; and Banita Jacks is found guilty. Fire gutted the Chain Bridge Road mansion and extensive art collection of longtime D.C. arts patron Peggy Cooper Cafritz late Wednesday, and officials said low water pressure slowed firefighters' efforts to contain the blaze. Peggy Cooper Cafritz’s mansion, on the 3000 block of Chain Bridge Road NW, was consumed last night by a massive fire, destroying much of her magnificent art collection. She was away in Nantucket at the time; neighbors rescued her pets. And, yet again, water supply was an issue in battling the blaze, leading to FEMS pointing the finger at WASA.
It took nearly two hours to find a sustained stream of water strong enough to fight the fire, Fire Chief Dennis Rubin said. A spokeswoman for the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority, however, said the problem stemmed from fire crews trying to use too many hydrants connected to the same small water main, instead of other hydrants available in the neighborhood.
