Arlington will be testing its outdoor warning systems in Rosslyn, Courthouse and Pentagon City this morning.
Between 10:00 a.m. and noon, the county’s Office of Emergency Management will sound a series of three loud beeps in each area, followed by a voice broadcast in English and Spanish.
Arlington County issued the following alert this morning:
Arlington County is currently experiencing intermittent problems with the 9-1-1 system. If you call 9-1-1 and can’t get through, immediately call 703-741-3035.
Want to learn how to help your neighbors, co-workers or family in an emergency? If so, Arlington will be offering free emergency response training in March.
The training is part of the county’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program.
The board awarded a $651,000 contract to install an emergency vehicle preemption system along the entire Arlington stretch of Lee Highway. The system will allow emergency vehicles to get an automatic green light at approaching intersections, thus reducing travel times and enhancing safety.
“Emergency vehicle preemption technology is critical to saving lives by giving responders safe, speedy passage through intersections and cutting precious minutes off the time it takes to get patients to life-saving care at a hospital,” Arlington Fire Chief James Schwartz said in a statement.
The system would improve the response times of emergency responders by preemptively turning traffic lights red for conflicting traffic in the path of an emergency vehicle.
The $563,902 contract, which includes an $87,384 cost overage contingency, would install the EVP system at 31 traffic signals on Lee Highway. The federal government is providing most of the funding for the project, with Arlington County chipping in about $130,000.
Update at 2:00 p.m. — The winter storm warning has been dropped. Arlington is now expected to just get a dusting of snow.
Update at 3:00 a.m. — It now appears that the storm will be smaller than anticipated locally.
County public safety leaders held a press conference with FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski this morning to discuss next-generation 911 services, which “will one day enable consumers to send text messages, videos and photos to 911 call centers via broadband applications.”
“The current 911 system is efficient and reliable… but [it] doesn’t support the communications tools of tomorrow, Genachowski said, pointing out that 70 percent of all 911 calls now come from mobile phones.
Glencarlyn Library Closed This Week — The Glencarlyn library will be closed tomorrow through Friday for repairs to the library’s 50 year old water pipes. The bookdrop will remain open.
Tax Holiday for Emergency Supplies — Starting tomorrow, Virginia is holding a tax holiday for emergency hurricane preparedness supplies. So stock up on batteries, bungie cords, bottled water and anything else you may need in the event of the near-perfect storm.
The District’s emergency communications system went down Monday night, prompting Arlington to allow D.C. radio traffic on some of the county’s channels.
ARLnow.com heard D.C. paramedics being dispatched on a fire department administrative channel. Among the calls broadcast on Arlington frequencies was a report of a stabbing in northeast Washington.
Here’s an update on the blizzard statistics we’ve compiled today.
Emergency calls in Arlington, from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM:
