The fire, from which smoke rose on Monday, January 18, over the Capitol building, occurred at a place where the homeless spent the night, on one of the streets adjacent to the complex of government buildings in Washington. This was reported to NBC News by representatives of law enforcement agencies.
Earlier Monday, photos, and videos of a pillar of smoke rising over the Capitol appeared on social media and the media. At the same time, it became known that access to all buildings of the complex was again closed due to an “external threat”, and the participants in the rehearsal of the inauguration of US President-elect Joe Biden were promptly evacuated to one of the buildings.
At the end of last week, it became known that additional forces of the National Guard were being deployed to Washington, which will increase the total number of its contingent in the American capital to 25 thousand soldiers. Much of this force is housed directly in the Capitol building. At the same time, as can be seen in the numerous photos and videos published in the world media, the military on duty in the halls and on the stairs are deprived of even basic amenities : many of them are forced to sleep on a bare marble floor since they have no sleeping bags with them or blankets or quilts. The concentration of the 25,000-strong contingent is explained by the threat from the Trumpists, who can allegedly try to disrupt the procedure for the inauguration of the new president, scheduled for January 20.
