On June 26, 2009, hundreds of people waited in line to get their first look at the new and improved Eastern Market on Capitol Hill. More than two years earlier, a three-alarm fire blazed through the beloved Adolf Cluss-designed building, destroying much of the interior and its original vendor stalls, leaving behind a charred brick shell that was originally built in the 1870s. Then-Mayor Adrian Fenty was on hand for the reopening of the market, which went through a $22 million renovation and rebuilding.

Before the fire, smaller renovations had been in the works that would have cost $2.5 million and allowed the market to remain open during construction. After the fire, Fenty sought to rebuild better and more ambitiously than before. The Washington Post reported:

Air ducts were moved underground, opening up a much more dramatic view of the ceiling from inside. The concrete floor, which was cracked, was completely replaced; in the process, severe structural problems in the basement arch and beam supports were discovered and removed. The rat-infested, trash-strewn lower level was restored to life, and an old underground restaurant space, accessible from the street, became the new home for the Eastern Market pottery studio.

The rehabilitated space is bustling today, with most of the vendors returned to their original stalls. Not to mention, the space is now available as a venue for special events, including weddings. (As long as you've got some cash; renting the space can cost from $100 for a community group to $4,300 for a wedding.) Editor's note: Due to a reporting error, this post originally said weddings cost $5,100.

Photo by Flickr user mastermaq using an Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic Creative Commons license

In late May, D.C. Fire Department brass tried to hose down a local reporter's Emmy nomination. Deputy Chief Kenneth Crosswhite lobbied to have a story produced by WJLA disqualified as a local Emmy nominee. The story in question was a three-month investigative piece that ran on Nov. 11. It chronicled the saga of arson investigators-turned-whistleblowers Gerald Pennington and Greg Bowyer. The two had argued that there were serious holes in how arson cases were being handled. The two had gotten demoted for saying so.

When that story got nominated for a local Emmy, Crosswhite decided to pick his fight. Show business was not impressed. Local Emmy honchos overruled Crosswhite's efforts. And this past weekend, the WJLA piece—by veteran newsman Jay Korff—won an Emmy in the investigative category.

Surely this will go down as a devastating blow to Fire Department brass. City Desk reached Crosswhite this afternoon for a response. He tried to be gracious in defeat.

"I want congratulate him that he won the Emmy," Crosswhite says of WJLA's Korff. "I wish him luck. But I still believe deep down that the story was not fair and accurate. Those guys have shopped those stories around to the other news agencies....I wish Jay well."

Korff says that he stands behind the his three-month investigative piece. "We just went where the facts took us," he says. "We were interested in nothing else other than making sure that our story was fair and balanced."

Crosswhite insists Korff did not have all the facts. "I just feel that being such a prestigious award, it should be awarded correctly," he explains, adding that not all the facts are out because Bowyer and Pennington face disciplinary hearings.

When informed by City Desk that the charges against Pennington were dropped last week, Crosswhite admitted he hadn't heard about that fact. "I don't know anything about that one," the deputy chief replied.

It was reported a few weeks ago that two D.C. Fire Investigators are now checking fire hydrants after claiming the Eastern Market fire was arson. Now, a firefighter is under scrutiny for critiquing the way the Mount Pleasant fire was handled. The Fire Department brass is allegedly blaming the catastrophe on one firefighter–saying she should have checked the basement (where the blaze began). The firefighter says she was redirected up a few floors and has the radio transcript to prove it.

Firehouse.com is reporting:

"A D.C. fire captain is under fire for blowing the whistle on what she believes went wrong during the huge apartment building fire in Mount Pleasant.

The five-alarm fire on March 12 was one of the most destructive in D.C. history, displacing 200 people and spreading to a neighboring church.

Now D.C. Fire and EMS Capt. Vanessa Coleman, who criticized how the blaze was fought, is under fire herself.

'She was made a scapegoat,' said Richard Condit, senior counsel for the Government Accountability project. Condit represents people claiming protection as whistleblowers, a category that now includes D.C. Fire and EMS Capt. Vanessa Coleman. "

Coleman has been reassigned and ordered to submit to a mental evaluation. The cause of the fire is still listed as undetermined. We wrote a cover story on the Eastern Market fire controversy.

In late December of last year, I wrote a cover story questioning whether the devastating Eastern Market fire might in fact have been caused by arson. The piece used several anonymous fire fighters, documents, and memos to make the case. Not only had Eastern Market been caused by arson, there may be another serial arsonist roaming Cap. Hill.

Of course, I confronted the Fire Chief Dennis L. Rubin. He got real hostile:

"When asked about the surveillance operation, Rubin replied: “May I ask who told you?” After this reporter refused to reveal his sources, the chief threatened him, saying: “I’m going to report you to the federal authorities [if you publish that].”

I am still waiting to hear from those federal authorities. This week two firefighters went on the record for a WJLA story. Both claim that the Eastern Market fire was arson.

Firefighters Gerald Pennington and Greg Bowyer have come forward. Both also claim they've been retaliated against as a result of their belief that the Eastern Market fire was the product of foul play.

WJLA writes:

"While Fire Chief Dennis Rubin announced the likely cause of the Eastern Market fire was 'electrical,' Pennington and Bowyer believe the blaze began with a deliberately set fire in a nearby dumpster. 'And we were ordered to keep this information quiet, which we did,' said Bowyer.

As two of the most experienced arson investigators, Pennington and Bowyer were also on a covert team searching for a person responsible for a rash of dumpster fires. Five months later, 28-year-old Joel Ramos emerged as a suspect. He was picked up by police on a malicious burning charge for setting a fire in an alley near Eastern Market. 'It's pretty troubling. It's pretty troubling because it's been going on for so long,' said Pennington.

Sources said the arrest wasn't publicized because arson didn't fit with the department's original theory. According to police records, Ramos never stood trial because a couple of months later, his body washed ashore in King George County, Va. After his death, which investigators deemed natural, the dumpster fires stopped.

While crews continue to rebuild Eastern Market, Chief Rubin won't discuss the disaster that nearly toppled a national landmark. Instead, when probed, he referred to the official report which lists the cause of the fire as 'undetermined.'

While Chief Rubin also won't discuss why Pennington and Bowyer are now turning hydrants, one of his top deputies referred to the two investigators as 'internal terrorists.'"

I wonder what's going to happen to Pennington and Bowyer. They now check fire hydrants. They used to investigate arsons. Is anyone going to protect these whistleblowers? Is anyone going to demand that the Eastern Market fire be investigated again?

*photo of the Eastern Market fire by Arthur Delaney.