An overturned vehicle is tying up traffic on westbound eastbound I-66.
A car flipped on its roof in the eastbound lanes near Great Falls Street just before 2:30 this afternoon. Initial reports suggest paramedics are evaluating at least one patient. Firefighters are working to reach another person who’s trapped in the vehicle.
A large piece of scaffolding apparently used for washing windows fell about 15 stories from the top of a Crystal City office building this afternoon.
The scaffolding fell onto some trees in a courtyard below. Amazingly, nobody was injured and the building did not appear to have suffered any damage.
County staff notified residents that they intended to restrict parking to one side Edgewood Street between 1st Road and 2nd Road after finding that some fire trucks are too wide to fit down the narrow street with cars parked on both sides. As we reported after the Feb. 12 board meeting, members of the board seemed sympathetic to the association’s request that the restrictions to be put on hold until the county and neighbors could come to a mutually agreeable solution.
In a letter to County Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman, LPCA President Natalie Roy makes it clear that the association views the parking question as an issue of county-wide importance. Roy says the group is worried about how the county plans to implement restrictions on other narrow streets.
High winds have blown off part of the roof of the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles building at 4150 South Four Mile Run Drive.
Firefighters report that a large section of the building’s metal roof blew off. The building has been evacuated. No injuries are reported.
(Updated at 4:00 p.m.) A large tree has fallen and damaged a home on the 3800 block of North Vernon Street, in the Old Glebe neighborhood.
The falling tree took utility lines down with it. Dominion Power has shut down power to the lines and has a crew on the scene.
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.
Last month Arlington sent Falls Church a notice that it could owe an additional $2.2 million for use of the Arlington County Detention Facility. At the time, the county said a “clerical error” resulted in Falls Church being undercharged for the housing of prisoners. Falls Church even admitted that it owed the money, according to the Washington Examiner.
Now, the county says “an outside contractor’s software error” resulted in an over-count of Falls Church prisoners. Falls Church only owes Arlington $123,000, the county said in a statement last night.
We’re told that about 800 people applied for ACFD’s latest recruitment class. Of those, several hundred are being invited to participate in a physical abilities test.
A recruitment class is expected to start at the training academy in June. Another recruitment class is expected to begin immediately after the first graduates in November. All told, the fire department expects to make 40 new hires this year.
The county’s streets bureau, responding to a complaint from a trash collector, determined that a curvy, two-block stretch of North Edgewood Street is too narrow. With cars parked on either side, firefighters brought in to test the width did not have enough room to open the bins on either side of their fire engine.
Acting upon the results of the test, the streets bureau sent notice to residents that they were planning on restricting parking to one side of the street. But residents fought back and, this weekend, seemed to get some cover from the county board.
The popular new restaurant just applied for an ABC license from the state.
“We think it’s going to be a couple of months” until the license is granted, District Taco founder Osiris Hoil said. “We hope to have it by the summer.”
(Updated at 4:10 p.m.) Residents in some parts of Arlington woke up to the smell of sewer natural gas.
Many called the fire department to report the gas smell, which the county’s Department of Environmental Services says is an issue that Washington Gas is investigating.
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.
