WASHINGTON – Workers and visitors at the Library of Congress have been allowed back into its Madison Building after smoke prompted a brief evacuation.
D.C. fire department spokesman Pete Piringer says smoke was initially reported Wednesday afternoon in the sixth floor of that library building located on Capitol Hill. A burning odor also was reported on other floors. Piringer says firefighters traced the smoke to a malfunctioning air handler.
A library spokesman says the building had to be evacuated for nearly an hour.
No injuries were reported.
The building serves as a memorial to a past president, James Madison. It is one of the three largest buildings in the Washington area after the Pentagon and FBI buildings and houses vast amounts of research materials.
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
