Eden Center Ringing In Chinese New Year With Illegal Fireworks

by ARLnow.com February 3, 2011 at 11:55 am 3,884 16 Comments

Update at 12:30 p.m. — The situation is apparently still not resolved. More firefighters and police officers are on their way to Eden Center.

The Arlington County Fire Marshal’s office is calling for backup at the Eden Center in Fall Church, which is apparently going in a bit overboard in celebrating the Chinese New Year.

“They’re shooting fireworks all around this area,” a fire official radioed to dispatchers a few minutes ago, while requesting that Fall Church Police respond to the shopping center.

Arlington firefighters initially responded to the center for an activated fire alarm. They quickly determined that the fire alarm was set off by fireworks and called in the fire marshal.

Today marks the start of the Year of the Rabbit in the Chinese zodiac. The Year of the Rabbit is supposed to be quiet and peaceful, but given the ruckus at Eden Center that doesn’t seem to be the case so far.

Eden Center, which is primarily a Vietnamese shopping center, is actually celebrating the Year of the Cat, as the above poster illustrates. The Chinese character for rabbit translates to cat in Vietnamese, according to Wikipedia.

Arlington provides fire department services to Falls Church under contract.

local

I smell Pho and gunpowder from here.
- BoredHouseWife
  
  Smells good
V Dizzle

Any proper celebration should involve the firing of AK-47s into the air.
BrownFlipFlops

Sigh. I mean – the letter of the law is the letter of the law, but sometimes, you just have to let people have a little fun.

So you’re saying it might be too crowded to go get bahn mi for lunch? Next week, I guess.
- borf
  
  Sure, what’s a few structure fires? Lighten up, people.
Arlingtron

Tet offensive?
Rover

Mmmm… Year of the Cat.
- Rover
  
  Yes, I’m animal unfriendly.
  - Tabby
    
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    ………../….// ……/……__………..__…….\
    …../´¯/…./´¯\…..(-….(.0.)…….(.0.)…..-)
    .././…/…./…./.|_…¡………../_……………..¡
    (.(….(….(…./.)..)..\……….____………./
    .\…………….\/../ ….\……………………../
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SoCo Resident

Since this is the Number 1 car stealing area, hope the fire marshall’s vehicle is still there when he gets back. Speaking of fire marshall, every time I walk through the Eden Center, it looks obvious that neither a fire marshall nor a building inspector has ever been there. Violations all over the place. Now, we know Arlington is responsible for this Falls Church business.
NomNom

I work across from the Eden Center and havent heard a thing. My window faces the area.
- borf
  
  Cuz all the fireworks were going off inside.
Captain Krunchy

So if I order rabbit stew at a Vietnamese restaurant, it will actually be Fluffy stuff??? <=0
Skeptical

It figures. I don’t even want to talk about the incidents I have had when something forced me to cross paths with a big festival day or even a Sunday midafternoon at this center. The message I get is that the business owners and patrons regard it as their own little independent country in the middle of Northern Virginia and think it’s laughable to expect compliance with health regulations, building codes and so on.
Le Ha

This is a stupid piece of writing I have ever read. (The Chinese character for rabbit translates to cat in Vietnamese, according to Wikipedia) Who is the editor of this news organization? You should learn why Vietnamese call it the year of the Cat instead the year of Rabbit.
Go back and learn other culture before you write any thing in the future.
- ARLnow.com
  
  As you can tell by the fact that I’m citing Wikipedia, I make no claim of being an expert here. Perhaps you can enlighten us so that in the future I don’t make whatever mistake it was that I apparently made.

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