Man sets himself on fire near White House, Secret Service says

May 29, 2019

A man set himself on fire outside the White House Wednesday afternoon, the Secret Service said. The incident occurred on the White House Ellipse shortly after noon.

A spokesman for the Washington, D.C., fire department said first responders managed to extinguish the fire and an unidentified adult male was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. Officials were trying to determine what kind of accelerant the man used to start the fire.

The Secret Service said the incident occurred south of the presidential mansion near 15th St. and Constitution Avenue around 12:20 p.m. The agency said it was assisting the National Park Service and U.S. Park Police in responding to the incident.

The Ellipse is a 52-acre park south of the main White House complex that is open to the public.

Graphic footage purportedly from the scene showed an individual engulfed in flames, followed by a plume of what appeared to be foam from a fire extinguisher.

In April, a man was hospitalized after lighting his jacket on fire outside the White House, causing a brief lockdown. The man in that incident sustained non-life-threatening injuries, the Secret Service said at the time.