Fireplace smoke causes evacuation of Eisenhower Building

WASHINGTON (AP) - D.C. fire officials say the Eisenhower Executive Office Building near the White House was evacuated for about 30 minutes because of a back up of smoke from a fireplace.

Firefighters were called to the building on 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue around 1 p.m. Saturday.

D.C. fire spokesman Alan Etter says officials suspect that there was an obstruction in a chimney, which caused light smoke to build up on the building's fourth floor. He says there was a fire in a second-floor fireplace.

Etter says the Secret Service evacuated the building as a precaution. He says there were a handful of people inside. He says firefighters put out the fire in the fireplace, and that there was no damage to the building.

The building houses many White House staff offices.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)