It’s the season for fireworks, but not in Alexandria.
With the Fourth of July and the City’s birthday celebration (July 13) right around the corner, the Alexandria Fire Department sent out a reminder this week that fireworks are illegal.
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Outgoing Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson publicly criticized a mailer for Vice Mayor Amy Jackson‘s mayoral campaign that used a photo of former Fire Chief Corey Smedley with her at a city event.
Wilson said at the end of last night’s City Council meeting that the integrity of the city government is at stake, and that it should be insulated from the “vagaries of politics to the extent possible.” Without calling out Jackson by name, he described the mailer and said that former Chief Smedley did not give his permission to be in the ad.
City Manager James F. Parajon named Felipe Hernandez Jr. as the new fire and emergency medical services chief for the City of Alexandria, according to a release from the city.
Hernandez is the first Latino to serve as a permanent fire chief in Alexandria and comes to the city after 25 years with the City of Rochester, where he previously served as chief of the fire department.
There were no injuries after a building was damaged and a golf cart was destroyed by fire at Episcopal High School on Wednesday morning.
The fire was reported at around 9:30 a.m. and extinguished about 10 minutes later, according to dispatch reports. No one was injured.
The Alexandria Fire Department is responding to a suspected gas leak at The Majestic restaurant at 911 King Street in Old Town.
Upper King Street — west of the intersection with Alfred Street — is shut down as multiple AFD fire engines and an ambulance attend to the scene.
Alexandria Interim Fire Chief Jim Schwartz has put a departmental redeployment on hold that would have replaced fire engines with ambulances.
Former Alexandria Fire Department Chief Corey Smedley announced his AFD Forward plan in September. The plan would have replaced fire engines at Station 204 (900 Second Street) in Old Town North and Station 205 (1210 Cameron Street) in Rosemont. Using 2022 data, AFD found that 72% of their calls for service (out of more than 27,000 incidents) were medical and rescue-related, while just 15% were fire alarm and fire-related.
It’s likely that during the day on Sunday, someone in Old Town will see a commotion on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. There will be fire crews assembled and a person dangling off the side.
If you’re that person and a frantic “Woodrow Wilson Bridge emergency” Google search led you here: don’t panic, fire and rescue departments are planning a series of training challenges at the bridge.
The YMCA in Del Ray (420 E Monroe Avenue) is temporarily closed after a medical incident.
Alexandria Fire-EMS are on the scene assisting a woman who went into cardiac arrest in the gym section of the YMCA.
It’s about to get a little more expensive to live in Alexandria.
On Saturday, City Manager Jim Parajon will present City Council with proposals to increase:
The Alexandria Police Department released a D.C. man after put on a harness and got stuck on the Seminary Road Bridge that runs across Interstate 395 on Sunday.
APD and the Alexandria Fire Department responded to a psychiatric emergency at around 8:15 a.m., and found the 62-year-old man with a harness wrapped around his waist and “strapped to the bridge,” police said in a dispatch.
A smoking heating and air system has closed Bugsy’s Pizza Restaurant & Sports Bar at 111 King Street for the foreseeable future, the restaurant owner told ALXnow.
Owner Bartolo Paz said that smoke came out of the furnace this afternoon after it was turned on by restaurant staff, that no one was hurt, and that there is minimal damage.