Elderly Man Found Alive and Well in Apartment 5 Days After Building Fire

A 74-year-old man was found alive and well inside his Washington, D.C., apartment Monday, five days after the senior complex caught on fire and all of the residents were supposedly evacuated. CBS affiliate WUSA-TV reported that the man was discovered by crews sent in to evaluate the building’s safety, and that he reportedly had a “sense of humor” about the ordeal. WUSA-TV notes that the man was in “incredibly good shape” and initially insisted that he leave the building on foot, before he was helped into a kitchen chair and carried outside. This discovery comes nearly a week after last Wednesday’s fire, after which Mayor Muriel Bowser claimed that all of the building’s tenants had been accounted for and evacuated safely. Bowser said that the man was not on at least one of the rent rolls provided by the management company—which were some of the documents used to ensure all tenants were safe—and noted that she “cannot say specifically what happened to this particular unit.”