Canadian members of parliament and their staff are back to business as usual on Parliament Hill in Ottawa after two consecutive fire alarms forced brief evacuations of Centre Block Wednesday morning.
Parliament security staff asked people to leave Centre Block, which houses the House of Commons and Senate chambers, as well as several offices, shortly after 9 a.m. Ottawa City fire trucks arrived on scene and several minutes later, the buildings were given the all-clear.
A short time later, fire alarms sounded again forcing officials to leave the building again.
Parliament Hill officials gave the all-clear just before 10 a.m.
In a statement sent to reporters Wednesday afternoon, parliament officials said the fire alarm was triggered by dust generated from the adjacent construction site.
“The situation poses no risk to the health and safety of building occupants,” said the statement. “However, we ask that they leave the building each time the fire alarm is heard.”
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.