Thursday, December 20, 2007
LOS ANGELES TIMES
WASHINGTON — A fire in an electrical closet near Vice President Dick Cheney’s ceremonial office forced the evacuation Wednesday of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next door to the White House — and sparked Internet chatter speculating about nefarious activities in the vice-presidential suite.
The vice president was in the White House West Wing when the fire broke out around 9:15 a.m., White House officials said.
The fire was contained to the closet, but the elaborate floor of mahogany, white maple and cherry in the vice president’s office was under water, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said.
Thick black smoke “fairly filled” the second through fifth floors, she said. It billowed from an open doorway and cast a pall across the White House north lawn.
Perino was conducting a briefing for reporters, undergoing questioning about the CIA’s destruction of videotapes of interrogation of suspected terrorists, when firetrucks arrived next door while smoke poured through a corridor of the Eisenhower building and, briefly, flames on the second floor could be seen from the White House grounds.
The building, a classic example of French Second Empire style featuring granite pillars and tiers of balconies suggesting a wedding cake, has been undergoing renovations for several years. Sprinklers are being installed, but the work had not reached the area where the vice president’s office is situated.
The structure was built between 1871 and 1888 and originally housed the Departments of State, War and the Navy. Until Walter F. Mondale took an office in the West Wing near the Oval Office, it also housed the vice president’s working office.
The desk in the office, set among other antiques, was first used by Theodore Roosevelt in 1902.
More than 1,000 White House staff members work in the building. About 110 firefighters and 50 pieces of equipment were sent. Cheney later inspected the damage.
A U.S. Marine was treated for cuts on his hand at the White House medical office. He injured his hand when he broke a window to escape the smoke.