Now wait. We can’t cancel the 4th of July. What we can do is cancel government and community events. Wait! That’s not even patriotic! Where is this coming from?
With 27,000 households without power, 19 roads still blocked, land line phone service erratic and calls to 911 not always getting through, Jack Brown, director of Arlington County’s Office of Emergency Management, has an audacious idea: Consider canceling the Fourth of July.
“I’m questioning having a special event during an emergency,” he said Monday after a weekend of extreme heat, lack of power and most critically, the failure of the emergency 911 call system. “Police are pre-deployed to two or three venues for traffic [during the holiday]. We had to evacuate the Iwo Jima Memorial a couple of times due to pending storms. Our power supply is not up and running at full strength and our emergency communications are not where I’d like.
“I’m really, really concerned about the vulnerability of our community, especially Arlington, but really the whole National Capital region.”
Verizon handles the 911 call system for northern Virginia and its facility in Arlington had a “power issue” that caused both technical and mechanical problems after the storm passed Friday night. The result was that Arlington, Fairfax, Prince William, Loudoun, Fairfax City, Manassas and Manassas City lost reliable 911 access, both incoming and outgoing calls.
Saturday morning Moonhowlings.com had a post about the concern over emergency service. 911 was down again. I remember a July 4 abour 3-4 years ago when 911 was down. I remember distinctly because some family of morons was shooting fireworks, bottle rockets to be specific, onto roofs and treetops right behind me. I was on the phone for 45 minutes waiting to speak to a dispatcher. I think I finally dialed the non-emergency number. I probably should have dialed that in the first place but I panicked with the ‘rockets red glare’ moment.
The point is, this is not the first time the Verizon services have been down. Several years ago it was just here in the county. Saturday after the Friday night derecho, the 911 outage was more widespread and regional. It is unacceptable. It was unacceptable then and it is unacceptable now.
The area needs to do some serious reevaluation of emergency preparedness. We obviously are not ready for emergencies. Bascially, something that sounds like a Dorito knocked the Washington, DC area on its ass. We are the most influential City in the freaking world. How could this happen?
The Arlington emergency director is right. When people are still without electricity and recovery is not complete, let’s just live to fight another day. Listen to the man and do what he says. We are very vulnerable. The derecho has proven it.
The Whos of Whoville in city of Manassas are still having the Fourth of July. Come to city and enjoy a rousing celebration of independence. Every tragedy or drama needs its comic release, and those moments that make us laugh and smile are important. You just made my day with the visual of a giant Dorito knocking us for a loop. http://www.visitmanassas.org for details on the 4th.
Morning Cindy. Glad the Giant Dorito tickled your funny bone this hot morning. Manassas is pretty much up and running. Lots of people in Arlington still don’t have electricity and there are downed trees still in neighborhoods from what I understand.
Can you imagine if it had been something other than the big Dorito coming through? Flood, tornado, terrorists? Why did 911 go down? What back up plans do we have for traffic direction? Do people know to treat lights out like a 4 way stop? How does that work on a road like Sudley Road, the Parkway?
Can the crossing guards be positioned to direct traffic? They have the uniforms and the training.
I think we have lulled ourselves into a false sense of security if last weekend is any example. That 911 situation is just horrifying, especially considering it happened less than 5 years go…same company.
I would say that based on the regional disaster response plan in the national capital region…. Make sure you have plenty of food, water, personal power source and firearms. Cause y’all are on your own.
It ain’t gonna get fixed.
Someone call me a liar. 🙂
If only we had a huge capitol works plan put into place in 2009…something with shovel ready projects, like burying power lines and improving the grid….
Too bad. THAT would have been worth the money.
@marinm
Liar. 🙂
There! Happy?
@Cargosquid
Sir, you’ve questioned my honor! I *demand* satisfaction.
Pistols at dawn?
I’m toying with the idea of a NG power generator. I need to figure out some way to dodge federal income taxes to do so..
@marinm
DAWN? Dude, the gun range doesn’t open until 8:30. And I definitely need coffee. But, maybe we can set something up at the NRA range soon.
http://www.nrahq.org/shootingrange/nrahqrange/hours.asp
Fed’l income taxes to do so? I have gas coming to my house, so I’m thinking the same. If you need an electrician up there, I know a good one. K&W Repair.
Ooooh. Thanks for the lead. Was asking for an electrician on Facebook to put in some fixtures for me.
Let’s go kill some paper. I think I have enough brownie points that I can get a few hours of man time in.
I’m amiable to a tangle closer to Richmond if it’ll make things easier.
Tangle = to a range Damn iPhone auto correct.
Are you all getting in to trouble?
How about that stalled metro train tonight?
@Marinm
I don’t mind coming up. But, it would be worth your time to go to the NRA range ahead of time to take their safety test and get their permanent range card.
Otherwise, you end up last in line in waiting for a lane.
I don’t know of other ranges other than the ones down here. There is a new one called Colonial. Its supposed to be very nice.
HQ for the company I work for isn’t too far. I’ll check range times for the safety brief and try and make some time for it in near future. I’ll hit you up via email so we can work out logistics.
Trouble? HELLS YAH!
@marinm
The safety brief/test is given to everyone that does not have a range card upon purchasing time at the range, whenever you arrive. That’s what I had to do while going to the blogger shoot we had there.