On Saturday, Sept. 10 Arlington County will host a special 9/11 tribute event to honor the 184 people who perished during the terrorist attack on the Pentagon.
“The event will be held at the Air Force Memorial and will be emceed by ACFD Lieutenant Dave Santini, with an invocation by ACFD Chaplin Reverend Leonard L. Hamlin, live instrumental music and a vocalist to lead attendees in singing ‘America the Beautiful,'” according to the county web site. “This event is free and open to the public.”
The annual race will be held on Sept. 10 this year. Registration is $25 today, $30 from Aug. 5 to Sept. 9 and $35 on race day. Teams (including firefighter, law enforcement and military teams) need to be registered by Sept. 1.
The race will kick off at 6:00 p.m. from the DoubleTree Hotel in Pentagon City (300 Army Navy Drive). Runners will follow a course that will take them past parts of the Pentagon. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attack on the World Trader Center and the Pentagon.
U.S. Park Police, Arlington County Fire Department, and Alexandria Fire Department all responded when someone called in concerns about an odd smell. Crews found the small spill in a creek near the entrance to the island and put booms in the water to contain it. Arrangements are being made to reinforce the boom when the tide changes so no containment is lost.
U.S. Park Police spokesman Sgt. David Schlosser says tests are being done on the substance to determine exactly what it is. Based on the odor, coloration and gelling it is believed to be a petroleum product, possibly a type of diesel fuel.
A suspected gas explosion rocked a high-rise senior living community near Ballston this morning.
One person was flown to a burn center after the explosion, inside The Carlin apartments at 4300 N. Carlin Springs Road, according to Arlington Fire Department spokesman Lt. Gregg Karl. No other injuries were reported.
If so, indulge the kid’s obsession at Arlington Central Library’s “truck petting zoo.”
From 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, various types of work vehicles will be on display at the library’s (1015 N. Quincy Street) east parking lot, near the tennis courts. Kids of all ages are invited to touch and explore the vehicles up close.
Mixed Signals During Fire Alarms at Senior Facility — During fire alarms at The Jefferson senior living facility in Ballston, a recorded voice tells residents to evacuate the 21-story building via the stairwell. Except, for safety reasons, most residents are supposed to remain in their condo with the door shut. This has confused some elderly residents, who risked injury by attempting to walk down long flights of stairs during fire alarms. While acknowledging the inconsistency, both building management and the fire department say they can’t change the recorded message due to “liability” reasons. [Washington Post]
Politico Reporters to Speak at Rosslyn Lecture Series — Politico White House reporter Julie Mason and congressional reporter Jonathan Allen will be the speakers at Rosslyn’s “Rooms with a View” lecture series next week. Mason and Allen will discuss “Washington’s divided political landscape” and take questions from the audience. The event is free (RSVP required). It will be held on Thursday, May 19, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Boeing conference center at 1200 Wilson Boulevard. [Rosslyn BID]
Fire Chief Jim Schwartz, the fire department honor guard and rank-and-file firefighters will help the Military District of Washington present a stone from the Pentagon to the Fire Department of New York. The 2,400 lb. stone, which was recovered from the damaged Pentagon after Sept. 11, will be handed over to the FDNY on Friday at Ft. Hamilton, in Brooklyn. ACFD was presented with a similar stone in March.
Arlington Engine 105, the first engine to arrive at the burning Pentagon 10 years ago, will transport the stone up to New York. A bus will carry most of the firefighters, who volunteered to attend the ceremony.
“A lot of people, they don’t really think about it, they just go out and grill,” said Arlington County Fire Department spokesman Lt. Gregg Karl. The end result, often times, looks like the video above, or like this news report from Spokane, Wash.
According to the U.S. Fire Administration, there are some 5,700 grill fires annually, causing 10 deaths, 100 injuries and tens of million of dollars worth of property damage. Many of those fires start in multifamily dwellings.
A fire broke out at the Duron Paint store near the corner of Glebe Road and Lee Highway this morning.
The Arlington County Fire Department responded to the store around 6:30 a.m. after a passerby saw smoke and called 911. Firefighters had the bulk of the fire knocked within 10 minutes, according to department spokesperson Lt. Gregg Karl.
Route 50 Interchange Project Nears — In March, we were told that the lane closure on westbound Route 50 would finally be lifted by around this time. That’s still yet to be seen, but some new closures are just around the corner. Dr. Gridlock reports that VDOT plans to start construction on a new Route 50/Courthouse Road/Fairfax Drive interchange next month, with nightly traffic disruptions. The $39 million project is expected to wrap up in Fall 2013. [Dr. Gridlock]
Arlington’s Fuel Bill Going Up — Arlington County could spend hundreds of thousands of additional dollars on gasoline this year, thanks to rising gas prices. The county’s vehicle fleet — which includes fuel-sipping Toyota Priuses — consumes about a million gallons of gas every year. [Washington Examiner]
The joint ACFD/ACPD team beat Montgomery County Fire (score: 5-1), D.C. Fire (score: 7-0) and Baltimore City Fire (twice) to win their division at the annual D.C. Firefighters Burn Foundation hockey tournament in Laurel, Md. They won 5-4 in overtime in the championship game against Baltimore City on Sunday.
Team organizer Sean Spencer says the 30-man roster contains people who have been playing ice hockey since they were kids and people who just took up the sport in the past couple of years. They had great chemistry on the ice, he said, despite only playing together as a team one time prior to the tournament.
Last week, residents of N. Danville Street and several other Lyon Village streets noticed county staff measuring street widths. Staff were reportedly checking to see if the streets were too narrow for trash trucks and fire trucks, as was the case with N. Edgewood Street in Lyon Park.
According to Lyon Village Citizens Association President H.K. Park, the county is considering restricting parking to one side of Danville and other neighborhood streets that county staffers have deemed too narrow. On Monday, the LVCA will meet to discuss the possible parking changes with county staff.
