Courthouse evacuated after fumes reported

WASHINGTON (CNN) - U.S. District Court here was evacuated briefly Monday afternoon after workers reported fumes coming from batteries that were being serviced.

A court official said there had been no injuries and that the evacuation
was ordered as a precaution when the building's ventilation system distributed the fumes."We left the building around 1:45," said Sheldon Snook, administrative assistant to Chief Judge Royce Lamberth. Snook declined to comment whether the federal judges had been evacuated to a secure area, as has been the practice during earlier alerts at the building.

Officials declared the "all clear" just after 3 p.m., after emergency crews investigated the source of the fumes, then ventilated the building.