Man sets himself on fire near White House

A man is in the hospital with life-threatening injuries after he set himself on fire near the White House on Wednesday afternoon.

Around 12:25 p.m., U.S. Park Police said officers responded to a report of a man on fire on the Ellipse, near 15th Street and Constitution Avenue.

The fire on the man was extinguished, and he was taken to a hospital, park police said.

A helicopter and multiple D.C. Fire trucks responded within minutes as the person was hit with extinguishers.

Witnesses told CNBC that the man was running before being consumed by flames.

A map of the area where the incident happened is below.

function initMapArticle() {

var lnglat = {lat: 38.892437, lng: -77.035023};
var map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById(‘map_article’), {

zoom: 16,
center: lnglat

});
var trafficLayer = new google.maps.TrafficLayer();
trafficLayer.setMap(map);
var marker = new google.maps.Marker({
position: lnglat,
map: map,
title: ‘The White House’
});
}

WTOP’s Madeleine Simon contributed to this report.

This is a developing story. Stay with WTOP for the latest.

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