House Fire Displaces Seven on Madison Street

A house fire has displaced seven people living in a boarding house in the heart of residential Hyattsville, and the tenants are blaming one of their roommates for the blaze.

No one was injured in the fire, which, according to witnesses, began a little after 9 a.m. on Wednesday. The fire took place in a brick two-story house on the 4000 block of Madison Street, near the intersection with 40th Place. 

The fire started in the room of one of the tenants, according to roommates who lived in the house. The roommates knew the tenant only by his first name, Emmanuel, and said that he was reclusive and largely kept to himself. They also said that Emmanuel was known to be reckless with fire.

The house is owned by Dr. Nainan Thomas, a psychologist. Tenants in the house say that Thomas would sometimes rent the house out to his patients. Tenants in the house also say they have warned the landlord in the past about their roommate playing with fire. 

"I said 'Doc, can you check this boy out?'," said Mike Jasper, a seven year resident of the house. "I know he heard my voice, because I kept telling him this boy is going to start a fire."

"One time, we physically came downstairs and had to put a fire out on the stove that he started," said Terrance Mitchell, a two year resident of the house, in an interview. "How the [explitive] do you warm up a pizza on a box?"

Thomas, who also did not know Emmanuel's name off hand, said that he was unaware of specific concerns raised by tenants about their roommate. 

"Not really, no," said Thomas. "In general, yes, but not anything specific."

Thomas said that he will refund prorated rent to the tenants, many of whom live on a fixed income.

Investigators with the Prince George's County Fire Department are still on the scene. As of this writing, no additional information about the fire has been made available to the media.