December 20, 2007	Thursday	Zilhaj 9, 1428

WASHINGTON, Dec 19: A fire broke out on Wednesday in US Vice President Dick Cheney’s ceremonial office in a building next to the White House, according to US officials, who ruled out terrorism as a cause.

The blaze sent thick black smoke into the sky and drove hundreds of presidential aides from the Eisenhower Executive Office Building into the street or West Wing of the presidential mansion.

The White House itself was not evacuated, and officials there said Cheney and President George Bush were in the top-secret Situation Room when the blaze began and were never in any danger.

Roughly an hour after the incident began, Washington Fire Chief Kenneth Crosswhite said emergency workers had the situation “under control” and that “there were no injuries” reported.

“It is still too early (to specify cause); we’ve got to investigate,” he said. But “there is no terrorist attack.” Crosswhite said the blaze had been confined to Room 274, which Cheney aides confirmed to be the vice president’s ceremonial office, but the workspace is actually a warren of rooms and it was not clear precisely where the blaze began.

From the White House driveway, firefighters could be seen earlier smashing windows and tossing chairs onto the balcony, apparently clearing the third-storey room affected by the blaze, whose origins were unclear.

The blaze may have started in an electrical closet or possibly a telephone bank area, Washington Fire Department public information officer Alan Etter told CNN television.

Etter said the firefighters contained the flames and were working to ventilate the potentially toxic smoke.

The building is on the White House grounds, protected by a fence and the US Secret Service in charge of Bush’s security, and separated from the mansion by a narrow street where some senior aides park their automobiles.—AFP