WASHINGTON (7News) — Firefighters from the D.C. Fire and EMS Department successfully extinguished a stubborn brush fire near Fletcher’s Boathouse in Northwest D.C. on Saturday evening.

The blaze, located along the Capital Crescent Trail off Canal Road NW at mile marker 8, was discovered in the woods and covered an area of 150 by 150 feet.

RELATED | Potomac River brush fire at Fletcher’s Boathouse extinguished by DC Fire

Authorities reported that three engines, a brush truck, a truck company, a fireboat, and a battalion chief were deployed to combat the fire.

Despite facing frigid temperatures and darkness, firefighters worked for several hours to bring the situation under control.

WASHINGTON (7News) — The Archbishop of Washington on Friday issued a rare decree, offering thousands of Catholics in D.C. and much of it’s Maryland suburbs an optional exemption from Saturday and Sunday Mass due to expected winter weather.

Leaders from the Diocese of Arlington, which oversees Catholic churches in Northern Virginia and over 430,000 parishioners, provided a similar statement for Sunday, Jan. 25.

Both groups said the exemption is optional, but urged safety for those who want to attend a Sunday Mass.

“No one is required to make use of this dispensation. It is certainly preferable to attend Mass if it is possible to do so according to one’s prudential judgement,” according to a portion of a written decree from Washington Archbishop Robert McElroy. The Washington Archdiocese has over 600,000 parishioners.

Catholics, per church law, see it mandatory to attend a Sunday Mass in full every week and certain special events called Holy Days of Obligation. They can be missed for personal reasons in many cases or by a dispensation.

The Washington Archdiocese issued a similar exemption decree for the COVID-19 pandemic.