WASHINGTON — Fourteen people, including a park ranger, were stuck in an elevator at the Jefferson Memorial for about 20 minutes on Wednesday morning.
D.C. firefighters were able to help them safely evacuate from the elevator about 11:05 a.m., according to the National Park Service.
The Jefferson Memorial remained open to the public but the elevator was taken out of service so that it could be inspected, the park service said.
The elevator went back into service about 12:30 p.m., said park service spokesman Mike Litterst.
The elevator takes visitors from the ground level inside the memorial – where there is a gift shop, restrooms and an exhibit area – to the chamber and is intended to help mobility-impaired guests avoid the front steps, Litterst said.
The Washington Monument is currently closed for a multiyear rehabilitation of its lone elevator and to build a visitors center. Elevator outages closed the famous obelisk repeatedly in 2016 forcing the park service to close the structure tot he public indefinitely until a long-term repair plan and funding could be found. The monument is set to reopen in 2019.
