We will use your email address only for sending you newsletters. Please see our Privacy Notice for details of your data protection rights.

Sign up fornow and never miss the top politics stories again.

Photos taken at the scene show security personnel with a person on the ground. Police and amublance crews are in attendance. Nicholas Kristof, a columnist with the New York Times, said: “Someone apparently set himself on fire in front of the White House just now. I was coming out of the West Wing, and the Secret Service isn’t letting anyone out onto Pennsylvania Ave. They say there were also suspicious packages.

CHRISTIANITY CRACKDOWN: Fury after church burned down by extremists

“The whole area in front of the White House is now secured. Nobody coming in, and we aren’t allowed out.”

The Secret Service said on Twitter: “ALERT: Secret Service personnel are responding to a police/medical incident on Pennsylvania Ave. along the WhiteHouse North Fence Line.”

They later indicated it was an accidental fire.

They said: "A male subject operating an electronic wheelchair-type scooter lit his outer jacket on fire while sitting along Pennsylvania Ave. outside the North Fence Line. Uniformed Division Officers immediately responded, extinguished the fire and rendered first aid.

READ MORE: Indonesia earthquake: TSUNAMI WARNING as huge quake rocks Ring of Fire