The Arlington County Fire Department’s overtime crisis is having a ripple effect on other programs, leaving training and logistics to take a hit.
Between the 2016 and 2018 fiscal years, the department exceeded its overtime budget every year.
fire department
A new report found the Arlington County Fire Department has been regularly exceeding its overtime budget while putting firefighters at risk of fatigue and injury.
County Auditor Chris Horton blamed staffing shortages and a lack of payroll controls for the department exceeding both its overtime budget and personnel budget over the last three years. He noted that the overtime costs ranged from $5.2 million to $6.2 million per year, despite being budgeted at $3.2-3.4 million.
The Arlington County Fire Department was among the numerous agencies assisting with a search for human remains at the Roaches Run Waterfowl Sanctuary near Reagan National Airport today.
The search is linked to the discovery of a human skull and other bones along Four Mile Run in Arlington, near the GW Parkway.
The Arlington County Fire Department will be kicking off a donation drive for the Animal Welfare League of Arlington this week.
Called “Operation FirePaws,” the annual event aims to gather donated pet supplies at fire stations for use by AWLA. This year, both the fire department and the shelter will be sharing safety tips with donors who drop off goodies, per a county press release.
A cyclist was struck and injured along an on-ramp in the Lyon Park neighborhood this afternoon.
First responders were dispatched to a scene just after 3 p.m. today (Wednesday) for a report of a cyclist struck by a vehicle on the ramp to and from from eastbound Washington Blvd and westbound Arlington Blvd. The cyclist was in a crosswalk when he was struck by the driver, said Arlington County Fire Department spokesman Lt. Michael Sheeran.
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Arlington Gets Best View of Fireworks — On a hazy night, Arlington — particularly Rosslyn — had the best view of the expanded D.C. fireworks. Smoke obscured the viewing for many parts of the District. [Twitter, Twitter, Raw Story]
JBG Trying to Lure Big Tech to Arlington — “JBG Smith Properties CEO Matt Kelly recently met with “a handful” of big West Coast tech firms in a bid to entice them to come to National Landing now that Amazon.com Inc. has chosen the area for its second headquarters.” [Washington Business Journal]
A man was burned and seriously injured in an early morning fire in the Aurora Highlands neighborhood Tuesday.
The fire broke out in a detached, two story garage and apartment on the 2300 block of S. Hayes Street. Firefighters arriving on scene around 2:30 a.m. found heavy smoke and flames coming from the structure, but were able to eventually extinguish the fire.
(Updated at 9:27 a.m.) Commuters on Metro’s Orange and Silver lines faced minor delays this morning after smoke filled the tunnels of the Ballston station.
A Metro spokeswoman told ARLnow that a train suffered a brake malfunction and offloaded passengers at the station.
Talento Selected as School Board Chair — “The Arlington School Board held its annual organizational meeting for the 2019-20 school year and elected Tannia Talento as Chair and Monique O’Grady as Vice Chair. The terms for the new Chair and Vice Chair begin immediately and will continue until June 30, 2020.” [Arlington Public Schools]
Which Amazon Units Are Coming to HQ2 — “We’re still a pretty long way from knowing what the estimated 25,000 workers at Amazon.com Inc.’s second headquarters will do, but a top company executive has named three units that will be represented in Arlington: Alexa, Amazon Web Services and Amazon’s consumer division.” [Washington Business Journal]
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(Updated at 5:35 p.m. on June 30) A woman was killed by a falling tree limb on the 2600 block of S. Walter Reed Drive this afternoon.
The incident happened shortly before 2 p.m. Initial reports suggest a portion of a tree fell and landed on an older adult woman, who was knocked unconscious and trapped underneath.
A box truck that provides mobile paper shredding services caught fire at an Arlington County office building Wednesday morning.
Firefighters managed to extinguish the small blaze in the truck’s shredder before the flames could spread, as seen in a fire department video below.
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Overturned Vehicle on GW Parkway — “The northbound George Washington Parkway was closed [past Key Bridge] during Tuesday morning’s rush hour after a vehicle overturned, authorities said… The southbound side of the parkway was also affected.” [Washington Post]
Transgender Policy Discussion at School Board Meeting — “Students, parents and advocates packed the [Arlington school] board meeting to loudly back [a transgender non-discrimination] plan, waving miniature LGBT and transgender pride flags to signal agreement with the nearly three dozen speakers who proclaimed support… Supporters on Tuesday vastly outnumbered those who turned out to protest the plans.” [Washington Post]