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.
Dominion has been out in force, working furiously to restore service to the thousands of customers who lost power last night. As of 3:45 p.m., the number without power in Arlington has been cut to 6,700 — down from 16,700 last night.
Most Dominion customers in Arlington should have their power restored at some point tonight. Still, Dominion says 10 percent of affected customers will have to wait until Friday night for the lights to come back on. And the company doesn’t expect to have power restored to all Northern Virginia customers until Saturday.
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.
Chain Bridge Road is expected to remain shut down for the next half an hour as firefighters work to rescue a man trapped in a van that knocked over a utility pole.
Initial reports suggest the driver of a delivery van knocked over a utility pole while backing out of a driveway on the 100 block of Chain Bridge Road, just north of Chain Bridge. Live power lines fell on the van, trapping the driver inside.
