Small Fire, Big White House Photo-Op

ABC News’ Steven Portnoy Reports: The Wednesday morning fire at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building had been extinguished for two hours, but more than a hundred city firefighters and paramedics — and several dozen firefighting vehicles — stayed at the scene of this morning’s blaze at the White House complex, not leaving until President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney came to shake their department leaders’ hands.

While it’s become standard practice for security officials to briefly lock down the White House complex for incidents requiring an emergency response, reporters standing in the cold outside the White House gates watched as fire trucks stood idle well after the flames had been put out. 

As fire investigators and the Secret Service looked into the cause of the blaze, several other city firefighters and emergency crews could be seen standing outside the complex as police blocked vehicle and pedestrian traffic.

At one point, a fire ladder was curiously extended to a second-floor window, positioned just to the side of the damaged area.  It was never used.

The fire was first reported to the District of Columbia Department of Fire and EMS at 9:34am.  Department spokesman Alan Etter said it was put out by crews about 30 to 40 minutes later.  But rather than returning to their firehouses, dozens of emergency vehicles and personnel remained on the scene.

More than 90 minutes after the fire had been put out, uniformed Secret Service police officers continued to block pedestrians from walking on the far sidewalk across the street from the once-burning office building on Pennslvania Avenue.

Traffic remained blocked on a busy 17th Street in downtown Northwest Washington as dozens of fire trucks staged alongside the building.  Only credentialed White House staffers were allowed to walk on the sidewalk past the police line. 

When the fire broke out, Bush and Cheney were meeting in the Oval Office. While firefighters were at work, Bush departed the White House to speak briefly at a bill signing ceremony at the Department of Energy, returning around 11am.

The heavy security and fire department presence remained in place for another hour.

Just before 12 noon, camera crews began assembling outside the West Wing for a photo opportunity between the president, vice president and the firefighters.

Bush and Cheney walked, smiling and waving, to greet the fire department officials. For about two minutes, the president and vice president shook hands and chatted briefly with the assembled fire chiefs and crew members. 

Minutes after as the president and vice president departed, the unused fire ladder was retracted and the trucks began leaving the White House complex.

DC Fire and EMS spokesman Alan Etter denied the fire ladder was extended to provide a backdrop for a photo-op.

"That’s for precaution, in case anybody was left up there and they needed to get out," Etter said, calling the extension of the ladder "routine." 

As they initially responded to the scene, firefighters did rescue one person on the 5th floor, a US Marine who had used his hand to break through a window to escape smoke.  Firefighters reached him through a stairwell, taking him down the stairs to safety.