as for the rumors of fire near whitehouse, I heard that rumor while I was on the roof, and we looked and there was NO smoke. Depending on where one was in the city, it could have appeared as if the smoke came from POTUSville, but not from what I saw.
We are situated "between" the pentagon and Whitehouse... that is, looking due S, Pentagon is at about 1-2 o'clock and white house is at about 10.
"At 9:36 a.m., National Airport, which was on American 77's flight path, asked a military C-130 cargo plane, taking off on a scheduled flight from Andrews Air Force Base — in Maryland, on the other side of the district of Columbia — to intercept and identify the fast-moving target. The crew of the C-130 said it was a Boeing 757, moving low and fast."
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/16/national/16PLAN.html