By Julie Shapiro
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
LOWER MANHATTAN — The Statue of Liberty was evacuated Wednesday afternoon after smoke was reported in an elevator.
The Park Service said an automatic smoke alarm was activated and a small amount of smoke from an overheated component was noticed Park Police.
FDNY got the call about the smoke condition about 1:18 p.m. Visitors were allowed back in at 2:45 p.m., according to the National Park Service.
Mercy Hoffmann, 34, who was visiting from North Carolina, was at the observation deck on the pedestal Lady Liberty stands on when the alarm went off. She said Park Service employees directed them to take the stairs down immediately.
"It was kind of scary a lot of people said 'oh my god, what's going on?'" Hoffmann said. "We didn't know what was going on."
She said she smelled smoke when she got to the bottom.
Carolyn Hume, 41, visiting from Kentucky, said she and her family had also just climbed to the top of the pedestal observation deck when the alarm sounded and they had to go back down.
She was disappointed she didn't get to spend longer up at the top looking at the view and taking pictures.
"As soon as we got to the top, we had to go right back down. We're exhausted," Hume said of the 140 steps she estimated they had to walk down.
"It ended up being quite a day — it was not what we expected," she added.
