National Mall, Washington
A man set himself afire on the National Mall in Washington, according to multiple reports. Wikimedia Commons

A man set himself on fire at the National Mall in Washington Friday afternoon, according to multiple reports cited by Business Insider.

News of the incident first spread on Twitter as a number of users provided photographs and written updates of the situation. According to Business Insider, a representative of the Metropolitan Police Department in D.C. confirmed police were responding to reports of a man on fire at the National Mall. He is believed to be conscious and breathing.

According to the Epoch Times, witnessess said the man doused himself in gasoline and lit himself on fire near Seventh Street and Jefferson Drive. The fire was put out by several bystanders who used their shirts. Epoch Times also reported a helicopter is on the scene.

Chris Moody, a political reporter for Yahoo News, said the call came into police at 4:24 p.m. EDT.

According to the Washington Post, a fire department representative, Timothy J. Wilson, said the man has been transported to an area hospital with “life-threatening injuries.” According to Wilson: “No indication on our end of what caused the fire; the only thing we can pretty much comment on is we were dispatched to the call and responded to it. So how it started, don’t know.”

Here are a few reports on the incident by Twitter users:

Twitter