One D.C. firefighter suffered life-threatening burns and three others were seriously hurt when the roof of a burning home partially collapsed and trapped them early Friday, fire officials said.

Crews were called to the scene of a large fire in the rear and roof of a single-family home in the 800 block of 48th Place NE around 12:30 a.m. Firefighters entered the home after hearing reports that people were evacuating, said Pete Piringer, a D.C. fire department spokesman.

A short time later, part of the roof collapsed, showering three of the firefighters with burning debris, Piringer said. The firefighters were trapped in a room somehwere in the middle of the single-story home.

“Fire and heat enveloped them,” Piringer said. “It was a heavy fire.”

Two of the firefighters managed to escape on their own, Piringer said, and a rapid rescue team pulled out the third. Piringer said the fourth firefighter may have been injured during the rescue attempt, but it was not clear. All of the firefighters were transferred to the Washington Hospital Center with serious burns.

Piringer said the critically injured firefighter was scheduled to go into surgery Friday morning. The identities of the firefighters were not released, but Piringer said three were from Anacostia’s Rescue Squad 3 and the fourth was associated with Truck 13 in Trinidad.

Piringer said crews regrouped after the injured firefighters were out of the house and continued to battle the two-alarm blaze. It took about 20 minutes to bring the fire under control. The home was totally destroyed,a nd no one was found inside.

Neighbors told firefighters that the house was vacant, but was occasionally occupied by squatters. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. A home next door suffered heat damage.