Columns:

BREAKING NEWS — Fire at Lucky Seven Store in Nauck

by Katie Pyzyk | June 20, 2012 at 9:58 am | 5,216 views | 142 Comments

(Updated at 10:40 a.m.) About two dozen firefighters battled a fire at the Lucky Seven Food Mart at 2406 Shirlington Road in the Nauck neighborhood this morning.

The original call for smoke and flames coming from the store’s roof came in around 9:30 a.m., and drew firefighters from Arlington, Alexandria, Ft. Myer and Fairfax County.

Firefighters used picks and chainsaws to cut holes in the roof in an effort to extinguish the flames. Other firefighters inside the store used thermal imagers to find hotspots in the ceiling.

The spectacle attracted a crowd of nearly three dozen neighbors. Shirlington Road was closed in both directions during the fire, forcing cars and buses to find alternate routes.

No injuries were reported.

Show Thumbnails

Arlington, Northside

Stay cool!
daniel

Nothing like the smell of New York Fried Chicken to take the edge off a high heat index and wearing a ton of gear. Water please!
JamesE

I was unaware there was such a thing as New York fried chicken
- http://chazzmichaelmichaels.tumblr.com Chazz Michael Michaels
  
  It’s way better than DMV Fried Chicken. #hadto
drax

New York Fried Chicken: a PROPER WING.
nom de guerre

Speaking of chicken (see interesting sign on Lucky Seven), today’s special at Sam’s Corner features grilled free range chicken marinated in fresh lime juice (as opposed to LIME FRESH), garlic and herbs with Asiago Pressato and arugula on black olive and rosemary focaccia with sundried tomato and macadamia nut pesto. Only while supplies last.
- j
  
  over this. pls stop. not funny
  - Richard Cranium
    
    I beg to differ.
    - Tabs
      
      +1
  - SteamboatWillie
    
    +100. And take the Clown Comment meme with you as well.
  - http://purple.com/purple.html Captain Pup McPuppo
    
    born hater, this “j” guy is.
- drax
  
  “Only while supplies last.”
  
  So it’s already sold out and Sam has gone home for the day.
- ARLwahoo
  
  I can never tell if you’re trolling…
- WeiQiang
  
  Lucky Seven also sells a “Burger” and “Seafood” … it’s like Harris Teeter, but not
  - JamesE
    
    well not anymore
- WeiQiang
  
  must be the heat … everyone is harshing on you, brah. suitcase time.
  - Dr_Klahn
    
    I’ll bring one too – meet you at the pool in the morning notes picture brah.
- South Awwlington
  
  Perhaps Lucky Seven can ship their Chix Wings and Fingahs to Sam’s until Lucky Eight opens.
- Mary-Austin
  
  what are their hours??? har har
Not the worst thing to happen.

This was a ‘hot spot’ for drugs and whatnot. It’s not the worst thing that could have burned in the county. Lets call it Green Valley revitalization, if you will.
- Green Valley Revitalization
  
  Hello Warm Demolition!
  - speonjosh
    
    Is that anything like warm leatherette?
    - South Awwlington
      
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn4ohXUdo_8
    - Green Valley Revitalization
      
      They are both on fire!
- Having fun yet?
  
  What, 20 years ago?
  - South Awwlington
    
    more like 20 mins before someone’s crack pipe burned it down, today.
    - MC 703
      
      Yep. Because they’re black.
      - South Awwlington
        
        Really?
- (another) Greg
  
  Gotta watch out for that whatnot.
- John Doe
  
  And how would you know?
CrystalMikey

Hope the firefighters are staying hydrated!
meh..

ArlNow…PLEASE close the comments for this story… I predict it’s going to get ugly quick.fast.and in a hurry…
- BallstonNOTBoston
  
  Calm down meh.
  
  This place sucked.
  - hem
    
    The store or the blog?
    - South Awwlington
      
      Sassy!
- Woops.
  
  Why would it get ugly? It’s a store fire at a known drug haven. Why is that so ugly? Please meh…, do elaborate on why you think this is going to get ugly?
  - meh..
    
    Don’t be obtuse…
    - Warm demo
      
      Obtuse? Please explain. You don’t just ask for comments to close without more reason. Do tell.
      - meh..
        
        meh.
      - Picantito
        
        buen trolling, amigo.
    - South Awwlington
      
      Don’t be oblong.
  - MC 703
    
    Drug haven? Do you walk past this store all the time like I do? I’m guessing you don’t.
    - Tabs
      
      Do you treat the Honda dealer that way?
      
      I’m guessing you don’t.
    - meh..
      
      People tend to see only what they perceive. Too many dark faces automatically = drug haven, sketchy, underutilized, “interesting”, underdeveloped, bad, etc….
      Like I predicted…the comments in this post are going awry….
    - South Awwlington
      
      I do pass through here daily. I also stand by my comments. Have enough nerve to call it what it is.
    - John Doe
      
      Apparently they do. Or maybe they have a Harris Teeter a block away from their manicured communities.
- Enough with the Censorship
  
  Yes, close down the comments lest someone state their opinion. You’re a big girl, deal with it.
  
  BTW, how does this section of town fit in with your vision of Arlington as lily-white?
  - Meh..
    
    If that’s what you took away from my comment, then you obviously didn’t grasp the point….
What u say defines who u r !

Burn em out huh, sounds like history repeating itself and you encourage that wow !!!!!!! some thing just will never change smh.
- http://purple.com/purple.html Captain Pup McPuppo
  
  ha cool username
Woops.

Smoke em if you got em.
ah o!

backdraft
- Woops.
  
  +1
Tray_Wick

Wow, I shouldnt have been imitating Jimmi Hendrix!
Douglas Parker

This is not the first time this place has burned down.
- Picantito
  
  maybe it’s the last time, looks like good land to shove yet another apartment building…. can ya say arson investigation?
  - Warm demo
    
    Arson investigation or not, it is still over for this place. RIP crack house.
    - MC 703
      
      False.
Lt. Steven McCaffrey

You go. We go.
- FF. Brian McCaffrey
  
  You see that flash of light in the corner of your eye? That’s your career dissipation light. It just went into high gear.
  - Bull
    
    If anybody’s lights are about to go out, believe me, they’re yours.
    - FF. Brian McCaffrey
      
      I’m tired of hearing the sirens. Turn… turn the siren off, Brian. Turn the siren off.
      - Bull
        
        Who’s your brother?
South Awwlington

Kinda looks like burning to the ground would be an improvement actually.
- Picantito
  
  uh yeah… I did not know this area but Google Street view of it is really interesting.. check it out…
  - Picantito
    
    (no dudes w/ brown flip flops).
  - Woops.
    
    You talking about all the dudes (not in brown flip flops) in chairs?
    - Woops.
      
      Or the other side of the street where three people are walking up to the BMW?
      - South Awwlington
        
        The Google Street view contains a whole lotta sketch. Wow.
    - Picantito
      
      all over man, some wierd dealing across the street, that pharmacy looks shady as heck, some dude in a van
      
      …and what’s up with all the potato chips? two trucks on google view and in the photos of the fire, more chip bags. was that a combo, NY fried chicken n chips?
      - Gordon Ramsay
        
        The combo now also includes smoked watermelon.
      - speonjosh
        
        I see the friendless teenage boys have joined the conversation.
      - sweet-t
        
        such an ass
      - MC 703
        
        And there it is. Yikes.
      - meh..
        
        Took longer than i’d anticipated….
  - South Awwlington
    
    That whole stretch of Shirlington Road seems to be underdeveloped and underutilized.
    
    I can’t imagine spending the $$$ for one of the townhouses at Shirlington Crest to have the third world view that they do.
    - Having fun yet?
      
      If by underutilized, you mean it hasn’t been turned into an extension of Girlington, yet, you are correct. Thank God.
      - Tabs
        
        My beenie full of weenie.
      - South Awwlington
        
        By underutilized, I mean cinder piles, car storage lots and something that looks like the surface of mars. If this is an attractive streetscape to you and you live in this neighborhood, by all means – have at it.
      - Having fun yet?
        
        I do live in this neighborhood. I’ll take it.
    - Shirlie
      
      I’m sure that view from the studio you rent is first class.
      - South Awwlington
        
        @Shirlie,
        
        The view from my two bedroom, single occupant condo is quite nice. Well, me and the dog.
        
        Care to stop over for happy hour?
      - Grindr
        
        Shirlie is now 3015 feet away.
      - South Awwlington
        
        lolz, better than next door I suppose. just saw her pic!
    - ShirleyMan
      
      Well, I’d imagine that those townhouses would be one hell of a good investment… assuming the county steps it up and keeps pushing the development of that area. I live close by and its actually in a great area with Shirlington Village and the W&OD at your doorstep…
      - Westover
        
        The asking prices seem to have already factored the area improvements in. You will make money on them, but not 2006 type of money.
      - The Crest
        
        My neighbor in Shirlington Crest just sold his townhouse for over $50K more than he paid for it a couple years ago. I bet you can’t imagine that type of profit on an investment either.
      - Westover
        
        For 2006 that would have been $150-200K after just a couple of years. The builders are factoring in the growth of the area in the asking prices today. The houses are there for residents these days, not so much for speculators like a few years ago.
      - South Awwlington
        
        lol asking the 2030 price for a home in 2012 because of “possible development.”
        
        Sure, I guess if people are willing to pay.
      - Westover
        
        http://www.stanleymartin.com/SMCWeb/ProjectDetail.asp?ProjectGroupID=SS&Region=VA
        prices look a bit high to me for no metro rail and the yet to be redeveloped area down the hill, not to mention overlooking the industrial strip of four mile run. I don’t see that much room for appriciation over the next decade. Great houses to have your home in, not to try to flip.
      - South Awwlington
        
        I agree, the townhouses are great and so is their proximity to Shirlington. Now clean up the rest of warehouses and commercial waste.
      - Sam Walton
        
        I’m trying to clean up part of the dilapidated warehouse area. Have YOU figured out how to deal with all the zoning nonsense? I’d be bringing at least 75 new/old jobs, too.
      - ReaMax
        
        What a wonderful amenity it will be to have the WalMart across from Shirlington Crest.
      - John Doe
        
        Google Dunbar Homes!
Douglas Parker

[The fire] drew firefighters from Arlington, Alexandria, Ft. Myer and Fairfax County….

Excessive no?
- FF. Brian McCaffrey
  
  No. The closest fire stations are dispatched. In that corner of the County, the four closest fire stations are in all four jurisdictions. Clearly you’ve never looked at a map.
- Nooner
  
  No, it is not. That area is a mutual box where the nearest units come from Alex, Fairfax, Ft. Myer, and Arlington. Northern Virginia is a national model for how automatic mutual aid works. In my experience, most chiefs will add additional units due to the fact that it is 90 degrees and you are working hard in about 80 pounds of gear. In temps like this working folks over an hour or so will send folks to the hospital.
  - Douglas Parker
    
    Thank you for the reply. Those points about location and heat make good sense to me. I was just surprised to see our neighbors in Fairfax payed a visit.
    
    Since you have an understanding, what/who determines which firehouses respond and from which counties?
    
    Also, who pays for what? Does Arlington pay Alex. Ft. Myer and Fairfax for coming out? Or do they just have a ‘we’ll come when needed’ agreement?
    
    Very interesting stuff to me.
    - Bull
      
      Fire departments in the northern Virginia area work off a common playbook (“Nova Manuals”) that determines what complement of apparatus and staff are sent given the nature of the call. A structure fire call like this includes at least four fire engines (pumpers), two ladder trucks, battalion chief and a few others.
      
      Mutual aid agreements are in place regardless of geographic boundaries. The dispatch centers talk to each other and you get whatever the closest available units for what you need. (That is sort of a simplification of the whole system but you get the general idea.)
- Anon
  
  Actually, no. More like completely normal. The NOVA region’s fire departments all participate in an automatic mutual aid agreement that is designed to dispatch the closest available unit to any particular incident. So incidents that occur near jurisdictional boundaries often will get units from neighboring departments that are the closest available/appropriate units. This fire, while technically in Arlington, was close enough to Alexandria, Fairfax, and Ft. Meyer’s stations to warrant units from them.
Oh shucks…

Maybe it was one of the guys smoking crack at the checkers table.
FF. Brian McCaffrey

Moderated comments!? What is this? Soviet Russia?
- Ty Webb
  
  You don’t have to go to college. This isn’t Russia. Is this Russia? This isn’t Russia.
  - Douglas Parker
    
    “Gentlemen, begin radical vertical impact simulation”
- CW
  
  In Soviet Russia, comment moderates you!
Garden City

Wow! Those poor guys have to be burning up in that full bunker gear today. It’s just nice the fire didn’t start at about 3pm and they could get it done and over with before noon.
TMP

Wasn’t there an auto place on the same corner that burned too?
- sweet-t
  
  yeah there used to be one on the corner that burned down too! (Where the grass park is now)
Picantito

is that an unadvertised sprayground behind the mart?
- Drew
  
  It’s advertised – Drew Sprayground.
Gordon Ramsay

Yes, it was located nextdoor at 2411 S. Kenmore Street. It also housed the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center at the time. I believe the fire occured in 2005
Neighbor

I live in this area. From a civic association meeting I attended a few years ago, I know the county had approached this owner about vacating. This was before they tore down the burned out building that was next to it and put in that park. I don’t know of anyone who was thrilled that the owner wanted to stick around, but he did. This is the kind of store where you could buy “not packaged for individual sale” items and the business hours were always a guess. Whatever goes in there needs to have a police substation in it. This whole area has been transitioning for a while, and there’s certainly more of an income mix than it was when I moved in. There is very much still an active drug market in the area and most of it occurs in and around that alley right there.
- Woops.
  
  +100 Neighbor speaks the truth.
- South Awwlington
  
  So why risk the health of our firefighters. LET>IT<BURN.
  - Picantito
    
    naa.. it’s free practice for 3 jurisdiction. You know how much it would cost the county to do a NY Fried chicken grease n chips fire excercise? like a couple miles of streetcar expensiveness.
  - Woops=Neighbor=Woops
    
    You’re right. They should shutter the firehouses in the seedy areas of DC immediately. Just let em burn.
    - South Awwlington
      
      this too.
- TMP
  
  I lived down the street at Country Club Towers from 1999-2005…”This whole area has been transitioning for a while…” is an understatement!
- UppityNeighbor
  
  Maybe the county should focus on arresting the actual criminals and checking on any health code violations instead of trying to strong-arm a local small business owner.
Woops=Neighbor=Woops

Woops and Neighbor same person? Probably. I live in the area as well and it there is not a “drug market.”

I walk past this store a few times a week and while it’s not a 7-11, it’s a weird neighborhood store, kinda like the one right across the street.

Judging from all the CRACK and WATERMELON comments above, yall don’t know what you’re talking about and just want to crap on one of the few remaining black neighborhoods in Arlington.
- http://purple.com/purple.html Captain Pup McPuppo
  
  i’m “woops,” “neighbor,” and “woops=neighbor=woops” y’all. i’m all 3.
- Neighbor
  
  I am not Woops. I have lived in the area for over a decade and take a dedicated interest in the welfare of my community. Most neighbors in this area, whether there for 6 months or 45 years, are responsible adults with the well-being of their community in mind. 99% of the people who sit in the park at any given time would give you the shirt off their back if you needed help. However, to pretend that there is not drug traffic in the surrounding area is simply being naive. I’m not saying that it’s a dangerous place but there are ongoing sales occuring constantly. The civic association knows it and the police know it. How could you not?
  - http://purple.com/purple.html Captain Pup McPuppo
    
    but are u me? because i am u.
    - Neighbor
      
      I’m not nearly as annoying as you.
      - dk
        
        LOL. S/He’s got you there, Pup.
      - http://purple.com/purple.html Captain Pup McPuppo
        
        dangit…
        
        *howls & cries*
  - meh..
    
    I actually appreciate your non-pointed input about this story.
  - Whoops
    
    I’m Whoops, we are in fact two different people otherwise ARLnow.com would stop us from posting. They can tell from your IP address if you are the same person and prevent repeat posts under different names.
    
    I’m a Douglas Park resident. I was specifically told by an Arlington police officer not to go to this store because there were guns and drugs there. I figure the police know what is what.
    
    Neighbor speaks the truth and people can’t ignore the fact that this place does not contribute to the community as a haven for drugs and weapons. That is not the kind of community we should foster and it isn’t a race issue – it’s a drugs and danger to our community issue.
    
    I also agree that 99% of the folks in Green Valley are salt of the earth. Nauck is a community steeped in history and proud of its heritage. Some of the best people you would ever meet. Luck 7 on the other hand does not represent those people.
    - South Awwlington
      
      Anyone who doesn’t say or believe it and thinks we are only piling on a minority neighborhood should be us in this parking lot tonight at 10 pm.
      
      I’m not scared bro, are you?
      
      I’d bet not one poster above who claims we are picking on the community would show up. I bet whoops and neighbor and I would.
      - South Awwlington
        
        *Meet us in the parking lot at 10pm tonight.*
      - HayDiosMio
        
        So we having a Arlnow Meetup? About time! The Dcist meetups are lame.
        
        nos vemos luego!
      - Ridge In Tha House
        
        Can we meet for brews, shrews and cues?
      - South Awwlington
        
        No one, showed. Shocker. It is a bit of a hike from NoArlBd.
        
        S’ok,
  - HP2000
    
    You are right on the button with the open air drug market. Anyone who doesn’t see it needs to go watch The Wire on Netflix or something. In fact that area made it into a Dateline episode about drug trafficing. And I’m sure most of the folks who hang out around that corner are well-meaning, responsible people… but there are times like the Oktoberfest when they do not like “outsiders” passing through their village and they let them know about it. The County treads lightly around here because of the history of the freedman’s villages and segregation. The Nauck Civic Association was very wary of any County plans for improvements to the area so most of the new construction was passed through the local churches and built on church property. But they did want a traffic light at 24th & Shirlington and they got that… and the “village green.”
South Side Chris

This reminds me, it’s nearly the end of Q2 and my fire insurance premiums are soon due.
South Awwlington

You heard it hear first:

Some posters in ARLnow will make the most LIBERAL of Democrats look Conservative.

Of course, we’ve never met said people face to face and we all know it’s much easier to hide behind the interwebs and extratubes.
- CW
  
  But can you make a MOST PROPER of slices?
  - South Awwlington
    
    Dude, you don’t even know.
Cupcakes-R-us

Great new location for Dremo’s.
nom de guerre

This is another example that the private sector is doing just fine.
ArlForester

Its a GENTRIFIRE!
- HMCS JK
  
  +infinity

Heat Advisory in Effect Today No Block Scheduling in Middle Schools Next Year

Subscribe to our mailing list