Crime & Safety

Smoke, But No Fire at Parliaments Apartments Temporarily Displaces Residents

The incident at the Parliaments in Annandale kept residents out in the cold for hours last Thursday.

An electrical incident at the Parliaments Apartments building in Annandale last Thursday left more than 200 residents out in the cold for a few hours.

The Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department was called to the high-rise building for a fire, but when firefighters arrived on scene, there was no fire.

"There was an electrical panel box that was smoking, but it did not cause a fire," said Dan Schmidt, public information officer with the fire department. "It did smoke up the building.

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Schmidt confirmed that the power was shut off and some residents were evacuated while officials investigated. Others were told to shelter in place.

The Fairfax County Times reported 300 apartment units were left without power Thursday morning and the incident drew more than 65 firefighters to the scene.  

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Dominion Virginia Power Media and Community Relations Manager Charles Penn said Dominion de-energized the electrical feed to the apartments that caused the electrical anomaly. Between 16-18 apartments were most affected by the incident, Penn said, but the Parliaments "eventually had to bring in their own people to fix the problem inside the building."

The Parliaments is owned by the Southern Management. Spokesperson Pam Martin confirmed that their contractors were investigating the incident, but as of Monday, were still awaiting the final report to learn what caused the problem. 

"Residents were let back into their apartments by 11 p.m. that evening. The fire department did an excellent job," said Martin.


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