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Alarm Evacuates Senate Building
me/russell Date: 2/8/06 Photographer: Linda Davidson/staff/twp Location: Russell Office Bldg, Washington, DC Caption: Capitol police and Hazard Material teams descend on the Russell Office building on Capitol Hill after a sensor in the attic of the building went off. Tests currently are being performed. They suspect right now it may have been something as simple as cleaning chemicals that set the sensor off. Pictured: Men in bubble suits carry black suitcases from the Russell Senate Office building into the decontamination tents erected just outside north door. StaffPhoto imported to Merlin on Wed Feb 8 21:30:06 2006
(Linda Davidson - The Washington Post)
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"We were held two hours down in the garage," he said. "We understand that. They weren't sure what the monitors were picking up."
He added: "The police were very professional. We don't take any of these [false alarms] for granted."
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), who is a physician, also lauded the emergency response.
"I'm sure tomorrow there will be a lot of questions whether it was necessary to quarantine'' the evacuees, he said, after monitoring the situation from the Capitol Police command post. "The answer is yes."
Frist added that he had been in e-mail contact with some of the people in the garage.
"Everyone's fine," he said at 9:30 p.m., shortly before the evacuees were given the all-clear. "They're ready to go home."
It was not clear how many similar sensor alerts have occurred in recent years at the Capitol complex. Capitol Police said in 2004 that its hazmat team responded to three to 10 false alarms daily on Capitol Hill involving hazardous material scares.
On Feb. 2, 2004, authorities found traces of ricin, a lethal poison, in the mail room of Frist's office. The investigation remains open.
Frist said the evacuation and response appeared different this time.
"What is different today is you don't see the panic," he said.
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