The next Association Meeting will be held on May 14, 2025, at 6:30pm at FS40 and on Zoom. Instructions for logging into the meeting via Zoom will be sent out prior to the meeting and will be available on the Association website.
Click on the calendar month to open the main calendar page.
-
Interested in Association Membership?If you are a retired member of the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department, Fairfax County Department of Public Safety Communications, or City of Fairfax Fire and Rescue Department simply click here for membership information, application, and payroll deduction forms. Once completed, send them to the Association at the address indicated on the forms via U.S. mail. Questions? We have answers, just complete the contact us form and we will get back in touch with you.
Fatal House FireMarch 18, 1999- In the early morning hours, units from Stations 9, 24, and 11 were dispatched to a house fire at 8131 Mount Vernon Highway near Richmond Highway. Units found a one-story abandoned house back in the woods engulfed in flames. A defensive exterior attack was initiated, and four bodies were discovered in the dwelling after the fire was knocked down. This fire eventually went to two alarms.The cause of the fire was suspected to be some type of space heater. The wooden house had been vacant for 25 years and was completely boarded up and was slated to be demolished. The victims had an access hole into the house under the front porch that made the house look completely unoccupied.It is assumed that the four were part of the homeless population that lives on Richmond Highway. The bodies could not be identified due to the fierce heat from the fire. Investigators could not determine the sex of the victims.
Skyline CollapseMarch 2, 1973- A building under construction at the Skyline Complex at the corner of South George Mason Drive and Leesburg Pike collapsed. The building was a twenty-six-story, 468-condominium-unit residential “H” shaped building with four stories underground for parking.At 2:18 pm, a police officer witnessed a partial collapse of the Skyline Center building and called it into the dispatch center. Within seconds, the fire phone rang at Station 10. FF Roger Ludlow picked up the phone and the call-taker told him that Skyline had collapsed. The entire crew was in the kitchen, and when he relayed the information, they all ran out front and looked south. The Skyline building was less than a mile away, and they could see that the middle of the building was gone. They jumped on the apparatus and responded with the wagon, truck, and ambulance. A quick-thinking construction worker knew that because a chain-link fence surrounded the building site, the fire department would be delayed in gaining entry. The worker jumped into a front-end loader and removed fencing to give the fire apparatus access.A crew made up of Fairfax and Arlington firefighters was sent to the fifth floor to rescue a severely injured worker who was hanging on the outside of the building by rebar that had wrapped around him during the collapse. They accessed the fifth floor by climbing wooden construction ladders. Securing the worker with rescue ropes, they used a torch and saw to cut the rebar. The victim was taken down in a Reeves Stretcher and then transported to the hospital.O.S.H.A. reported that the collapse was due to the premature removal of the concrete form supports on the 23rd floor while the 24th floor was being poured. In total, 14 workers were killed, 4 in the parking garage and 10 in the tower. The collapse also injured another 34 workers.Units from Fairfax County, Arlington County, and Alexandria City responded to this incident.Communications were sketchy at best. Radios being low band, they sometimes did not work in concrete buildings. Unlike today, where every riding position has a portable radio, back in 1973, only one radio was assigned to each engine and truck company. The radios could only communicate within their jurisdiction, which made communications with other departments impossible. Wagon 10 had an Arlington FD portable, but it is unknown if it was in service that day. Due to this lack of communication and no formal Incident Command, units were freelancing and trying to accomplish the same goal.The fire department remained on the scene for several weeks until the last body was removed.Thanks to Mike Ramos for some of the information on this incident.
Fatal Accident - I-95 @ I-495March 18, 2000- Nine were trapped, and five of those were killed in a multi-vehicle accident on I-95 at the Beltway. A dump truck traveling north on Interstate 95 was sideswiped by a Nissan passenger vehicle. The truck, trying to avoid the accident, turned sharply and traveled across three lanes of traffic. The truck hit the guardrail, went airborne, and landed in the southbound HOV lanes. Two vehicles, a Camry and a Saab, hit the truck as it landed, and the impact caused the truck to land on top of both vehicles. Due to the lack of skid marks, it's assumed that neither the Camry nor the Saab had time to react to avoid the accident. State police shut down all highway lanes to facilitate access for the fire department.The initial alarms were Engines 426 & 422, Rescue Companies 418, Medics 422 & 426, BC, and Safety 401. Rescue 426, which would typically be first due, was out of service at the apparatus shop.Rescue 414 was on the road and added to the incident. Both Rescue 418 and 414 arrived at the same time. Rescue 414 began extricating the victims in the Nissan in the northbound lanes and Rescue 418 began extricating victims trapped in the Camry and Saab that were under the dump truck. The incident commander requested a heavy-duty wrecker, an EMS Task Force, and two additional rescue companies, Rescue 419 and Rescue 411, were dispatched. The heavy-duty wrecker was used to lift the dump truck, and one of the rescue companies winched the vehicles out from under the truck, giving access to the patient area.Two of the victims in the back seat of the Saab had been extricated, triaged, and transported to the hospital. Rescue 419 and 411 arrived shortly after, and all four rescue companies began stabilizing the truck so that both vehicles underneath could be pulled out.Once the vehicles were pulled away from the truck, it was realized that neither vehicle had survivors. A total of five fatalities were still trapped under the crushed roofs and dashboards.Rescue companies remained on the scene to assist with the investigation and removal of the victims trapped inside the wreckage. Two of the deceased were in the Saab and three others in the Camry.State police described this accident as the most horrific incident in the past 10 years.Thanks to Carlton Burkhammer for information and pictures from this incident.
Early Radio Traffic
This is a recording of Fairfax Fire Control on January 7, 1954 taken directly from the vinyl recording disc it was originally made on. Towards the end of the recording you will hear the voices of all 15 paid men who were employed at the time as they acknowledge an announcement regarding their requirement to begin filling out a timesheet to get paid. Thanks goes to Clyde Clark who donated the recording disc, Ed Dornack who donated his time and expertise in cleaning up and enhancing the recording for us and Clyde and Steve St. Clair for identifying the voices as listed below.
From Clyde Clark:
Having listened to the above referenced tape I am of the following opinions as to voices heard:
I believe the primary dispatcher was Arthur Smith. This opinion is in part due to the sound of the voice and the fact that he often repeated radio transmissions (as heard on this tape). A second dispatcher is heard at 24:10 in the tape and I am not familiar with this voice. Reviewing the EOC time sheet which you forwarded I do not believe the unidentified voices belong to any of those persons listed on the time sheet as each had a distinctive voice sound and quality.
At the time this tape was made (Jan. 1954) there were many itinerant dispatchers who came and went at the fire board - some in for a day and others for longer periods of time. Possibly this era is best considered as a "try out" period.
At 00:20 the voice of Tommy Gaines (Jr. Gaines) is heard on a piece from Co. 8.
At 00:40 the voice is that of Dutch Simpson from Co. 10.
At 03:30 the voice is that of Bob Hunter from Co. 2.
At 09:45 the voice is that of C.B. Newman (Bernie Newman) from Co. 9.
At 19:00 the voices of all 15 career personnel can be heard and for those that did not identify themselves the voices sound like the primary paid man at each station, i.e. Co 4 voice is not identified but certainly sounds like Oscar Costello.
From Steve St. Clair:
I listened to the tape one time and started jotting names down. The following is a list of names I came up with:
Co. 1 was Sam Redmond
Co. 2 was definitely Bob Hunter
Co. 3 was definitely Stuart Fox
Co. 8 was definitely Vince Guidi
Co. 9 was definitely Charlie Newman
Co. 11 was definitely Joe Dove
Co. 14 was definitely Marshall Curtis
Co. 15 was definitely Porter Hutchison
Co. 16 was Calvin Millen (Thanks Keith Pearson)
Co. 17 was definitely Harry Riggles
"96" was definitely Bill Sheads working as the Forest Warden.
I believe Maynard Wells was talking with Bernie Newman about the first brush fire Co. 9 was handling on Route 235 in reference to more assistance.
One of the dispatchers toward the end sounded like Horace Williams.
The names I was definite about were all voices I could identify from knowing them as a kid and later working with them.
Click below to listen
-
2025 T-Mike Open.pdf
