Not an April Fools joke: Fire alarm disrupts Book Rap, Taco Night

The National Press Club's Taco Night and a Book Rap were disrupted on April 1, but it wasn't an April Fools joke.

The Press Club was cleared out around 7:15 p.m. due to a fire alarm in the National Press Building. The origin of the emergency was not immediately clear.

The commotion brought a halt to a Book Rap featuring CNN security analyst Peter Bergen. That event's audience of about 35 people as well as dozens of Taco Night attendees made their way downstairs and out to the 14th St. sidewalk to wait for authorities to evaluate the situation.

"While the fire alarm was unfortunate, the Press Club's wonderful staff handled the incident professionally and everyone was safely evacuated," said NPC President Thomas Burr, who was at Taco Night at the time. "My apologies to our members and guests who had to leave but it's always wise to be safe rather than sorry. And if nothing else, perhaps we got a little unplanned exercise in taking the stairs out to work off that extra taco.”