District Of Columbia Fire Department

The District of Columbia Fire Department has ignored "for years" warnings that it lacks the proper equipment to save the President in the event of a serious helicopter accident on White House grounds, a high-ranking union official said Monday. "It has been common knowledge that units assigned to protect the President have problems regarding equipment," said Ken Cox, vice president of Local 36 of the International Assn. of Firefighters.

The District of Columbia Fire Department has ignored "for years" warnings that it lacks the proper equipment to save the President in the event of a serious helicopter accident on White House grounds, a high-ranking union official said Monday. "It has been common knowledge that units assigned to protect the President have problems regarding equipment," said Ken Cox, vice president of Local 36 of the International Assn. of Firefighters.

Employees at the Treasury Department were evacuated from the historic building next to the White House on Wednesday after workers complained of noxious fumes that were causing watery eyes, breathing difficulties and nausea. The fumes, described as smelling like diesel fuel, came from sewer pipes in a tunnel under Pennsylvania Avenue that connects the main Treasury building with an annex, said Alan Etter, a spokesman for the District of Columbia Fire Department.

Authorities briefly closed the Lincoln Memorial after finding suspicious containers and a note reading, "Do you know what anthrax is?" and "Do you know what a bomb is?" After evacuating the area, U.S. Park Police investigated a travelers' coffee mug near the note on the steps and a Gatorade bottle in a women's restroom, said Wayne Benson, a battalion chief with the District of Columbia fire department. Neither of the objects was found to be a threat, Benson said.

The House on Tuesday created a four-member committee to investigate a fire last week in the congressional office of Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.) and to study fire safety in the Capitol and three House office buildings. The committee was proposed by Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), a former volunteer firefighter who attempted unsuccessfully to extinguish the fire last Thursday in the Longworth House Office Building.

Re "Can you count the Capitol protesters?" Sept. 15 Your article's readiness to give validity to suspect sources for the high estimates is troubling. Pete Sepp of the National Taxpayers Union and Adam Brandon of FreedomWorks, the sponsoring groups, have an incentive to inflate the numbers. The consensus among local officials and media outlets is that the crowd was well under 100,000. Do estimates vary wildly? Sure. But someone who doesn't read the entire article will have the impression that the various estimates are all equally legitimate.

A man died today after setting himself on fire outside the U.S. Capitol, officials said. The man, who was not immediately identified, was pronounced dead at the scene, a District of Columbia Fire Department spokesman said. The incident occurred on the West Front of the Capitol, facing the Mall that stretches from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial. There was no immediate indication that the incident was connected to any political cause, said Officer Dan Nichols of the Capitol police.

Joe Theismann, saying that the pain he suffered from a broken leg in last Monday night's game against the New York Giants was "twice worse than anything I've gone through in my life," vowed to play for the Washington Redskins again next season. "I don't think the good Lord is ready for me to give up," Theismann said at a hospital press conference, with his fiancee, television actress Cathy Lee Crosby, at his side. "I just want to get myself physically ready, because mentally, I'm ready already.

Workers using a propane torch to remove paint from an outside window at the White House on Saturday touched off a small fire adjacent to the Oval Office, officials said. There were no injuries and damage was minimal. President Bush and his wife, Barbara, were spending the weekend at the presidential retreat at Camp David, Md.

A federal judge ruled Monday that the District of Columbia Fire Department's promotion policies under its affirmative action plan are unconstitutional. The plan's promotion features clearly violate the Constitution, U.S. District Judge Charles R. Richey said, "as that portion of the plan unnecessarily trammels on the rights and interests of white firefighters. As such, the promotion aspects must be struck down."

A sea of angry taxpayers marched on the Capitol on Saturday afternoon. That much is certain. But even before the march was over, the news media, bloggers and rally supporters were wrangling over the crowd count, with estimates ranging from 60,000 to 2 million. The Daily Mail in England initially reported that 1 million people flooded the west lawn of the Capitol, protesting what they called the dangerous big government policies of President Obama. Some conservative blogs claimed 2 million attendees.