Fires are always scary and often deadly. When a fire consumed a senior center in Washington, D.C. Wednesday, many families feared the worst. According to USA Today, more than 100 residents were evacuated and have been moved to other housing due to the fire.
Rescuers believed they'd safely gotten everyone out of the building. However, they missed one man, 74-year-old Raymond Holton, who stayed alone in his apartment for five days before he was discovered.
NEW: family says this is Raymond Holton, 74, who survived being trapped in DC senior center for 5 days after fire! Just talked to his niece who had no idea it was her uncle until she saw our story at 11! pic.twitter.com/S6hsPcULv1
— Lindsay Watts (@LindsayAWatts) September 25, 2018
Holton tells me he had enough water, but not enough food. The lights/electricity were out and he couldn’t charge his phone. I asked what he’s feeling now after being alone in the dark for days.
“I wasn’t alone,” he says. “I was with my God, I wasn’t alone.” 2/3
— Lindsay Watts (@LindsayAWatts) September 25, 2018
The 74-year-old was found with a "sense of humor" and jokingly told the crew that discovered him "he wasn't going anywhere." Holton was described as being in "incredibly good shape" with non-life-threatening injuries as he was taken to the hospital.
“I wasn’t scared. I be here by myself anyway,” Holton told the Washington Post in a telephone interview. “I thought they forgot about me. I didn’t know about no fire.”
Either Mr. Holton is the original Captain Planet, or he ought to be next in line to join the Avengers. Either way, surviving as he did with little food and water as well as spotty electricity for five days is a superhuman feat.
And yeah, everyone else was just as shocked and impressed as we were.
good morning, I'm still thinking about the 74-year-old man they found on his couch FIVE DAYS AFTER a fire at a senior housing complex (and after they said all residents had been accounted for) https://t.co/raWG5HEG8Y
— Mark Berman (@markberman) September 25, 2018
If you're wondering how Mr. Holton was missed during the initial evacuation, apparently his name wasn't on the list of building residents due to an error made by the company that manages the senior center.
Due to heavy rubble, a secondary search wasn't carried out given that everyone who was on the list was accounted for.
"There is a chance that an apartment or two may have been missed as this was going on," explained D.C.'s fire chief, Gregory M. Dean. "Discipline is not the issue here, it's really looking a what else we need to do to accomplish what we need to accomplish."
Following Holton's rescue, each unit will be rechecked by fire crews.
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