Families are working to pick up the pieces after a fire tore through their Southeast D.C. apartment building. WATCH HERE WATCH HERE“You saw black smoke at first and then you turned around and it was just like fire, under the black smoke,” said Danielle Mitchell, who lived in the building. Mitchell, along with her daughter, mother and several dozen of her neighbors, were inside of the Southeast apartment building. D.C. Fire and EMS said they received a call about a fire at the building on E Street SE. When firefighters arrived, they could see the fire along with thick clouds of gray and black smoke.