Police briefly evacuate US Capitol, Visitors’ Center after alarm sounds

WASHINGTON – Police briefly evacuated hundreds of workers and tourists from the U.S. Capitol and its adjacent visitors’ centre on Tuesday in a problem officials tentatively blamed on a faulty exhaust fan in a visitor centre kitchen.

“There are no signs of smoke or fire,” said Kimberly Schneider, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Capitol Police. Within an hour after alarms had sounded, employees returned to the building and tourists were readmitted shortly after that.

In an email to congressional workers from Capitol Police, officials said two alarms were triggered in the visitor centre, which they said was apparently caused by “a known problem with environmental controls with the kitchen exhaust fan.” It provided no additional detail.

Lawmakers are in recess this week for a weeklong holiday break.

The evacuation occurred two days after a bomb squad destroyed a pressure cooker found in an unattended, “suspicious” vehicle on the National Mall near the Capitol and the vehicle’s owner was arrested. Almost six weeks earlier, a man was arrested after he flew his gyrocopter through restricted air space and onto the Capitol grounds.