A worker fell into a hard-to-access area at a construction site along Columbia Pike this afternoon, prompting a rescue operation.
Firefighters were dispatched to the intersection of Columbia Pike and S. Oak Street just before 4 p.m. for a report of someone who fell into a concrete box and needed to be hoisted via a rescue basket.
Columbia Pike was closed in both directions near the Sheraton hotel while firefighters worked to bring the person to safety. The victim was then reportedly taken via ambulance to Virginia Hospital Center for possible broken bones.
“At 3:51 p.m. the ACFD was dispatched to the area of Columbia Pike and S. Oak St. for a female patient that fell into a concrete utility box,” fire department spokesman Capt. Nate Hiner tells ARLnow. “Crews made quick access to the patient and removed her utilizing a Stokes basket. The patient was transported to an area hospital with non life threatening injuries.”
Construction in the area includes the realignment of Columbia Pike and the expansion of Arlington National Cemetery. It was not immediately clear at which construction site the person was injured.
LOCATION: Columbia Pike / S Oak St.
INCIDENT: Fire Department Activity
IMPACT: All lanes of Columbia Pike are closed at S Oak St. Seek alternate routes. pic.twitter.com/Jhu26H4orP— Arlington Alert (@ArlingtonAlert) September 8, 2023
(Updated at 2:30 p.m.) Arlington County firefighters conducted water rescues in the Pentagon City area this afternoon amid torrential downpours.
Initial reports suggest that three cars were stuck in high water along S. Joyce Street between Army Navy Drive and Columbia Pike, and that multiple people — including an elderly person with disabilities — were stranded, either in their vehicles or on the concrete median.
Another report suggested that the water was so high that at least one of the vehicles was floating. On traffic cameras, water could be seen streaming down from the I-395 overpass above.
A large contingent of fire department resources, including boats, responded to the scene. As of 2 p.m., ACFD said it was clearing the scene after everyone was rescued and no one needed to go to the hospital.
Much of Arlington, including Pentagon City, is under a Flash Flood Warning due to slow-moving, heavy downpours. The flooded portion of S. Joyce Street remains closed.
Crews are on the scene of a Water Rescue Incident in the area of S. Joyce St and Army Navy Dr. Currently several vehicles are stranded in high water, crews are utilizing rescue boats to make access to those trapped in the vehicles. Avoid the area and expect delays. pic.twitter.com/A6PlIbQCep
— Arlington Fire & EMS (@ArlingtonVaFD) July 7, 2023
FINAL: All FD Units are in the process of clearing the scene, no patients were transported to the hospital as a result of the incident. Expect delays in the area to continue.
— Arlington Fire & EMS (@ArlingtonVaFD) July 7, 2023
NEW: S. Joyce under I-395 in Arlington right now. @ArlingtonVaFD water rescue assignment coming. Waiting for small boat to get 1 person out of a car. Arlington #traffic camera via @SafetyVid.@ARLnowDOTcom @WTOPtraffic @dougkammerer @capitalweather @StormHour #weather #traffic pic.twitter.com/G4iAsB5Esw
— Dave Statter (@STATter911) July 7, 2023
UPDATE: @ArlingtonVaFD made quick work of getting last person from a flooded car on S. Joyce under I-395. Looks like a construction crew helped. Possibly from @ArlingtonNatl expansion??? @ARLnowDOTcom @capitalweather @dougkammerer @StormHour #weather #traffic #safety #vatraffic pic.twitter.com/ZuJCbV1xOB
— Dave Statter (@STATter911) July 7, 2023
LOCATION: S Joyce St. / SB I-395
INCIDENT: Flooding
IMPACT: The entrance to SB I-395 from S Joyce St. is closed due to flooding. Seek alternate routes. pic.twitter.com/1bEt7qJF6s— Arlington Alert (@ArlingtonAlert) July 7, 2023
A water rescue operation is underway along Four Mile Run after reports of a drunk man falling down an embankment.
The incident happened shortly before 4 p.m. behind the Virginia DMV office at 4150 Four Mile Run Drive. Initial reports suggest that the man fell 20 feet onto rocks below, suffering possible broken bones in the process.
The man is said to conscious. Because he’s in a creek bed, the fire department is treating this as a water rescue and a large contingent of fire apparatus — including water rescue and technical rescue trucks and equipment — is responding to the scene.
Update at 4:55 p.m. — The man has been hoisted from the creekbed by firefighters, and is in the process of being loaded onto an ambulance and brought to a local hospital.
FINAL: Patient has been transported to an area hospital with non life threatening injuries. Crews are in the process of clearing the scene.
— Arlington Fire & EMS (@ArlingtonVaFD) June 2, 2023
On Aug. 12, 2022, Arlington police officers were among the first to respond to the devastating crash and fire at Ireland’s Four Courts.
Three ACPD personnel — Officer Whisner, Corporal O’Daniel and Corporal Playford — were just recognized for their heroism.
“Without hesitation, the officers entered the building, assisted with removing patrons, carried the injured to safety and provided emergency medical assistance,” Arlington County Police Department spokeswoman Ashley Savage tells ARLnow.
Whisner has served with the department for 2.5 years and Playford for 5 years, while O’Daniel has more than 24 years of law enforcement experience in Arlington, across the Sheriff’s Office and police department. They were honored for their bravery, for saving the lives of four critically injured patients and for preventing additional injuries during an annual Arlington County Fire Department award ceremony on Sunday.
“Your prompt response, quick decision-making, and selfless act of courage undoubtedly made a meaningful difference during this complex incident,” Arlington County Fire Chief David Povlitz told the officers, reading from a letter of commendation later provided to ARLnow.
“The collaboration between our departments was seamless, and your efforts in evacuating the building and removing patients were essential to the rescue operations,” he continued.
Firefighters on-scene were also lauded for evacuating the building, triaging patients, quickly extinguishing the raging fire, treating patients on-scene and transporting patients with life-threatening injuries to trauma centers, ACFD spokesman Capt. Nate Hiner tells ARLnow.
“Seamless collaboration with ACPD played a significant role in saving the lives of the critically injured patients and preventing additional injuries,” Hiner said.
The pub-goers who suffered the most serious, potentially life-threatening injuries were released from the hospital after about a month. The Uber driver who slammed into the pub, after an apparent medical emergency, did not face criminal charges.
Four Courts, meanwhile, expects to reopen in August, after about a year of insurance claims, permitting, demolition and construction.
The units who responded to the crash and fire were not the only first responders honored last week for saving lives. Last summer, there were two other rescues for which fire crews received accolades.
On June 25, 2022, Hiner said, 10 units responded to a “challenging trench rescue incident” in which a worker was trapped up to his shoulders in heavy clay in a collapsed trench at the rear of a house near Wakefield High School.
“The worker was in distress and having trouble breathing,” Hiner said. “Personnel collaborated to develop patient care and extrication plans, which they efficiently executed despite the difficult conditions and extreme heat. Crews worked for 75 minutes to safely remove the patient from the trench while providing ongoing medical care.”
Once the man was freed from the clay, he was rushed to the hospital and later discharged, making a full recovery.
Weather appears to be a factor in a crash that left a woman trapped in her car on an embankment this morning.
The crash happened around 11:15 a.m. on a ramp from Route 50 to Washington Blvd. The driver apparently lost control and the car came to rest halfway down the embankment, between the ramp and the Sequoia Plaza complex that houses a number of county offices.
Initial reports suggest that the driver was uninjured, but was stuck in the car due to concerns about it sliding further down the hill. Firefighters stabilized the vehicle and brought the woman to safety.
As of noon, first responders and a tow crew remained on scene, working to get the vehicle back up the hill and onto the flatbed tow truck.
This was not the only crash along Washington Blvd this morning.
An earlier two-vehicle collision nearby, on the crash-prone merge from Sequoia Plaza onto Washington Blvd, was still causing some delays at the time of the single-vehicle crash. The crash involved a Porsche SUV that appears to have rear-ended a Nissan sedan.
LOCATION: EB Rt. 50 (Arlington Blvd.)/ SB Washington Blvd.
INCIDENT: Traffic Collision
IMPACT: The exit of Rt. 50 (Arlington Blvd.) to SB Washington Blvd. is closed. Seek alternate routes. pic.twitter.com/2VKtPEe9pV— Arlington Alert (@ArlingtonAlert) May 9, 2023
LOCATION: EB Rt. 50 (Arlington Blvd.)/ SB Washington Blvd.
INCIDENT: Traffic Collision
IMPACT: All lanes reopened. pic.twitter.com/x3kJz1UlKt— Arlington Alert (@ArlingtonAlert) May 9, 2023
Arlington County firefighters rescued a person from underneath a Metro train last night (Thursday) in Crystal City.
Arlington County Fire Department units were dispatched to the Crystal City Metro station (1750 S. Clark Street) at 8:25 p.m. for a report of an individual struck by a train, per a press release today. They found the person under a train, “conscious and alert.”
“Crews immediately began rescue operations, sending personnel onto the track bed and underneath the train to safely remove the patient,” per the release. “The patient was successfully extricated from beneath the train just before 9 p.m. and loaded onto an awaiting ambulance.”
RELEASE: Arlington County Fire Department Rescues Individual Struck by Trainhttps://t.co/xdeebBkM9W pic.twitter.com/IeuPBNK3uK
— Arlington Fire & EMS (@ArlingtonVaFD) March 10, 2023
The person was taken to an area hospital in critical condition, according to ACFD.
“Rescue operations like the one our crews faced on March 9 can be extremely challenging,” Arlington County Fire Chief David Povlitz said in a statement. “I am extremely proud of our responders and WMATA safety partners for their ability to perform such a technical operation safely, proficiently, and quickly.”
Asked about the current condition of the person who was struck, a spokesman said the fire department typically does not do any immediate follow up once someone gets to the hospital.
Metro suspended service between the Reagan National Airport and Pentagon City stations in response to the incident and requested shuttle buses to accommodate passengers, according to a tweet published around 8:4o p.m. last night.
The ACFD is assisting @wmata with an incident at the Crystal City station. https://t.co/JoZp9JmFwL pic.twitter.com/DCC4i3aVan
— Arlington Fire & EMS (@ArlingtonVaFD) March 10, 2023
Two hours later, Metro announced that Blue and Yellow line service had resumed.
UPDATED: Blue Line Alert: Train service restored btwn National Airport & Pentagon City following a person struck by a train at Crystal City. Expect residual delays.
— Metrorail Info (@Metrorailinfo) March 10, 2023
The northbound lanes of the GW Parkway will be closed this Sunday between Spout Run in Arlington and Chain Bridge Road in McLean.
The closure, from about 6 a.m.-4 p.m., is for the removal of “an abandoned vehicle that is below the road near the Potomac River.”
From the National Park Service:
On Sunday, March 5, 2023, the National Park Service (NPS) will close both northbound lanes of the George Washington Memorial Parkway to remove an abandoned vehicle that is below the road near the Potomac River. The NPS expects to close the lanes between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. from Spout Run Parkway to Chain Bridge Road, VA 123. The southbound lanes will remain open. The NPS will also temporarily close parts of the Potomac Heritage Trail near the vehicle for up to half an hour at a time while the work is happening.
The abandoned vehicle is located below the parkway next to the Potomac River near Donaldson Run. The car left the road during a snowstorm in January of 2022. The driver sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
The crash and rescue happened during snowy conditions on Jan. 3, 2022.
“The driver — the only occupant of the vehicle — was trapped inside the car and suspended upside down, with a broken arm and leg, according to initial reports,” ARLnow reported at the time. “After being extricated from the vehicle, the man is now being brought to a waiting ambulance at Columbia Island Marina via D.C. fire boat.”
This is not the first time in recent memory such a closure of the Parkway has been planned. Indeed, drivers have been running down the Parkway’s steep embankments with some regularity, posing logistical challenges for the Park Service.
In March 2021, a portion of the GW Parkway was closed over the weekend as crews remove two vehicles that ran down embankments and crashed near the river.
Other such crashes since the start of 2021 include:
- Jan. 12, 2021: Two people rescued after a crash in which two vehicles careened off the Parkway near I-395 and ended up in the Potomac.
- Jan. 15, 2021: Another car ran off the road and over an embankment near the second scenic overlook in Arlington, after the suicide of a Jan. 6 first responder
- Oct. 20, 2021: A driver was rescued but suffered serious injuries after their car careened off the northbound lanes and into a thick patch of woods, just north of Spout Run
- Nov. 17, 2022: One person died and another survived after driving into the Potomac near Columbia Island Marina on a particularly cold fall night
The northern portion of the Parkway, where many of the crashes have taken place, is in line for a significant rehabilitation project. As we previously reported:
For the first time since it was built in the early 1960s, the northern section of the GW Parkway will be getting a major overhaul.
The National Park Service announced yesterday that it had awarded a $161 million contract to rehabilitate the Parkway from Spout Run in Arlington to the Capital Beltway in McLean. After a design process in 2022, construction is expected to take place between 2023 and 2025.
Drivers are being cautioned that there will be traffic impacts during construction.
Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) touted the project in a statement, saying such work is overdue. This stretch of the Parkway has had to close at least three times over the past seven years due to sinkholes.
The Park Service, in today’s press release, noted that the Parkway has turned into a major commuter and travel artery, after first being envisioned as a scenic parkway.
The George Washington Memorial Parkway is a scenic roadway and memorial to the first president of the United States. When the NPS completed the northern part of the parkway in 1962, the NPS used the most up-to-date road engineering methods by integrating a wide, gently curving roadway with a grassy median, low stone guide walls and soaring steel-and-concrete arched bridges. Today the George Washington Memorial Parkway facilitates travel for more than 33 million vehicles per year, with the northern section seeing the heaviest traffic of about 85,000 daily users.
As a critical link in the national capital region’s transportation network, closing the parkway is never a decision the NPS makes lightly.
(Updated at 3:15 p.m.) Firefighters have rescued two construction workers after they got stuck in a lift that reportedly contacted power lines.
The incident happened around 2 p.m. at the construction site for Arlington Fire Station No. 8, at 4845 Langston Blvd.
Two men could be seen standing on the lift, which had been raised to the top of the under-construction fire station, shortly before the rescue. Initial reports suggested that one was dangling from their safety equipment immediately after the accident.
A crowd of local residents gathered on the other side of Langston Blvd, watching the rescue unfold.
Firefighters used a ladder truck to reach the lift. The men were then lowered to the ground and helped onto stretchers. They both appeared shaken but not seriously injured.
The thoroughfare remained blocked in both directions by the police and fire department activity for about an hour, reopening shortly after 3 p.m.
Just over 900 Dominion customers are now without power in the neighborhoods around the construction site.
Power company personnel and workplace safety investigators are heading to the scene, according to the fire department.
FINAL: Two patients have been transported to area hospitals in stable condition. The investigation into the circumstances of the incident remains ongoing. Units are clearing the scene and some lanes of traffic will open shortly.
— Arlington Fire & EMS (@ArlingtonVaFD) February 20, 2023
A Saturday morning crash in Pentagon City sent two people to the hospital after they were pulled from their overturned vehicle.
The crash happened around 8:30 a.m. at the intersection of Army Navy Drive and S. Eads Street and was caught on video (below) by local public safety watchdog Dave Statter.
“At approx. 8:31am the Arlington County Fire Department was dispatched for a vehicle crash with entrapment,” Arlington County Fire Department spokesman Capt. Nate Hiner. “Crews quick arrived on scene and found a two-vehicle crash, with two occupants trapped inside one of the vehicles. That vehicle was stabilized and both occupants were quickly extricated. They were transported from the scene to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.”
Video of the crash shows the overturned vehicle, a blue Honda, traveling east on Army Navy Drive and getting t-boned in the intersection by a second vehicle, traveling north on Eads. It is unclear which driver had the green light.
#caughtoncamera: One overturned after crash at Army Navy & S. Eads at 8:30 a.m. 2 people were trapped for about 20 mins. Injuries reported to be non-life threatening. @ArlingtonVaFD & @ArlingtonVaPD handled. @ARLnowDOTcom #firefighters #EMS #police #arlington #traffic #vatraffic pic.twitter.com/6WkDhJDG9l
— Dave Statter (@STATter911) January 21, 2023
(Updated at 1:30 p.m.) A driver was pulled from their overturned vehicle after reportedly running into a gas pump.
The unusual incident happened shortly before 11 a.m. at the Sunoco station at 5501 Langston Blvd, across from the Lee-Harrison Shopping Center. Employees hit the emergency gas shut off after the crash, per scanner traffic.
The driver, an elderly woman, was extricated from the Chrysler coupe by firefighters after they stabilized the vehicle. She and a second vehicle occupant were transported to a local hospital via ambulance with unspecified injuries.
“At approx. 10:54am the Arlington County Fire Department was dispatched for a report of a single vehicle crash in the 5500 block of Langston Blvd,” Capt. Nate Hiner told ARLnow. “Crews arrived on scene and found a single vehicle crash with 1 occupant trapped inside. The vehicle was stabilized and the individual was extricated. Two adults were transported from the scene with non-life threatening injuries.”
There were no reports of the crash sparking a fire nor causing a significant fuel spill.
A vehicle overturned in the garage of a single-family home in the Yorktown neighborhood this afternoon.
The incident happened around 3:30 p.m. near the intersection of Old Dominion Drive and 29th Street N., across from Washington Golf and Country Club.
It’s unclear how exactly the vehicle overturned. A large contingent of firefighters worked to stabilize the vehicle and rescue a woman who was reported to be trapped inside.
The victim was transported via ambulance to a local hospital with unspecified injuries.
