A senior resident found Alive In D.C. Apartment 5 days after the fire: NPR

Last week, during the fire of the Arthur Capper senior apartments, the building inspectors made a surprising discovery: Raymond Holton, 74, was alive.

Allyn Kilsheimer, the structural engineer who found Holton, said at a press conference Monday: "I had to use iron bars and construction workers to get home, he should have use them to go out, in my opinion to go out. "

The fire has displaced more than 100 residents.

The Washington Post reported that Holton had been transported to George Washington Hospital with minor injuries.

The fire is declared Wednesday in the senior care center of Washington's Navy Yard neighborhood. According to Washington PostFirefighters had saved the residents of the upper floors of the building, the flames consuming the top floor and the attic.

Holton resided on the second floor of the building.

WUSA9 reported that despite the evacuation of the building and the destruction of part of the building due to fire, Holton responded to the test with a light spirit and a sense of purpose. # 39; humor.

He said to the Washington Post in a telephone interview with the hospital, "I was not afraid, I am here alone anyway".

"I thought they had forgotten me, I did not know about a fire," he added.

At the press conference on Monday, Mayor Muriel Bowser and Fire Chief Gregory M. Dean answered questions about Holton's discovery, saying that a list of residents provided by the management company

Dean said to the Washington Post because the building could collapse and they thought they "did not want anyone", they did not want to send firefighters into a dangerous situation.

Laura Zeilinger, director of DC's Social Services Department, told Washington that while the building management company provides a list of all residents, "today, they acknowledged that They had not seen [the man] personally, although they ticked other people on their list. "

According to CBS News, fire officials said they planned to investigate reports from residents that fire alarms and sprinklers were not working properly.

All residents were rescued safely and, according to CBS News, four of them were rushed to hospital with nonfatal injuries.