Man tries to set himself on fire outside White House

Secret Service agents saved a man in a motorized wheelchair who set himself on fire Friday afternoon outside the White House.

Uniformed Secret Service officers rushed to the man and extinguished the fire in the incident that occurred outside the north fence of the White House, along Pennsylvania Avenue.

The agency said the man was taken to a local hospital “with what appears to be non-life-threatening injuries.”

President Trump was in the White House at the time but the incident posed no threat to him.

In a statement, the Secret Service said the man was operating “an electronic wheelchair-type scooter” when he “lit his outer jacket on fire while sitting along Pennsylvania Avenue.”

“Uniformed Division Officers immediately responded, extinguished the fire and rendered first aid,” the statement said.

Officials closed 17th Street between H and G streets, and pedestrians were barred from Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House. The White House was briefly on lockdown during the incident.