A 68-year-old man who was rescued by the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department (FCFRD) in Tysons took the unsual but gratifying extra step of calling the unit months later to update them on his progress and thank them for saving his life.

Rae Cronmiller, an avid swimmer, collapsed on Dec. 15 in the locker room at Sport & Health (8250 Greensboro Drive) in Tysons after experiencing a cardiac arrest following a one-mile swim. A physician in the locker room initiated CPR and a crew from Engine 429 in Tysons was already at the Sport & health for training. They were able to respond quickly and rescued on Dec. 15 after experiencing a cardiac arrest.

Cronmiller has recovered and got onto Zoom with his family to thank the physician and the FCFRD crew that saved his life.

“It was very moving,” Cronmiller said. “Not a day goes by that I don’t think about what happened to me, and how fortunate I am to have the best group of force responders in the world. You saved my life. I am of sound mind and body now, I feel better or as good as I did before the swim. I have you folks to thank and the individual who was there. If he’s able to watch this, I really appreciate his efforts.”

Several of the people involved in the rescue were on the call with Cronmiller and said, once the pandemic is over, they’d love to meet with him in person to shake his hand and see how he’s progressing. Andrew Rose, one of the paramedics who arrived, was among those on the call.

“It’s wonderful to see you doing so well,” Rose said. “We’re always thinking of you and looking for updates. We’re absolutely thrilled to see you at home with your family.”

“I’m so happy we were able to be there with you that day,” Calvin Alexander, another one of the paramedics said.

Sarah Thomas, a dispatcher involved with the rescue, said it isn’t often that FCFRD get to hear about the aftermath of a rescue.

“We never get the opportunity to hear any results, so we never know if somebody lives or not,” Thomas said. “So it is truly inspiring to see you and hear you. Thank you for that, because we never get to hear it or see it.”

The full release from the FCFRD is below: Read More

A local animal rescue group has turned to online resources and bringing in animals from outside Northern Virginia to keep up with the rising adoption demand.

The Lost Dog and Cat Rescue Foundation in Falls Church almost closed when the pandemic hit the Northern Virginia area but decided to stay open under the guidance of its co-founder Pam McAlwee, according to Kim Williams, one of the foundation’s volunteers.

Over the last few weeks, the organization saw a large increase in cat and dog adoptions, Williams said, adding that compared to April 2019, adoptions are up about 60%.

“It’s unlike anything anyone could have ever predicted,” she said.

When the pandemic first hit, Williams said she was concerned because “everything came to a screeching halt.”

The local pet supply stores, which usually would co-host adoption events with Lost Dog, halted their events, and people could no longer meet potential fosters in-person due to health concerns.

But that didn’t stop the foundation from continuing to help furry friends find homes.

Through Zoom appointments and phone consultation, three main volunteers ended up “working around the clock” to process roughly 300 pet inquires and match animals with homes in the first few weeks when people started staying home, Williams said.

“All of a sudden they became Match.com overnight,” she said.

In April alone, the organization took in roughly 370 dogs, according to Williams.

When finding homes for the animals, the volunteers consider a variety of factors, including the age of an animal, preexisting medical conditions, the size of the pet and household factors like children or the presence of a yard, Williams said.

Despite the time-consuming process of matching an animal to an owner, Williams said the team created spreadsheets and even worked to find adopters and fosters for animals that require special care and attention — like Grey, a pup who spent more than 500 days in Lost Dog’s shelter and loves to eat everything in his site — including furniture.

One upside to the pandemic is that people are spending extra time with their foster animals and discovering triggers and solutions for misbehavior that would otherwise cause incompatibility issues, Williams said.

Because many of the animals from the Northern Virginia area have either been adopted or placed in a foster home, the shelter is bringing in roughly 70 animals per week from places such as Puerto Rico, Mississippi and Southern Virginia — all areas with a large number of stray animals. Williams said that a local vet in Mississippi told her that the area was a “dumping ground” for animals.

Though adoptions and fosters have increased over the last few weeks, Williams said it isn’t cheap to rescue animals from across state lines.

Before an animal can be sent to foster homes or be adopted, the shelter has to pay somewhere between $125-$170 in fees depending on the size of animals to take them over state lines. That’s on top of all of the medical expenses to ensure they are healthy.

Thanks to thousands of dollars in donations from an anonymous donor and a partnership with a nearby animal hospital, the shelter has managed to keep up with demand, Williams said.

The Lost Dog and Cat Rescue Foundation prides itself on its ethics, according to Williams. “We never discriminate based on age, breed or health conditions,” she said, adding that they will take in any dog or cat in need of care. 

Anyone interested in fostering an animal or adopting can check out the foundation’s website.

Photos courtesy Kim Williams Photography 

A man fainted while working at a construction site for a new house near downtown McLean, according to the building company.

The incident happened shortly before 11 a.m. today (Tuesday) at 1605 Wrightson Drive. A sign for Reston-based Green Logic Builders was on the lawn of the site.

“A worker just fainted on his own,” Ned Malik, the founder and CEO of Green Logic Builders, told Tysons Reporter.

The worker was inside a trench with four other people when he fainted for about 30 seconds, Malik said, adding that the man was rescued by the Fairfax County firefighters and taken to the hospital.

HBC Group has the six-bedroom house listed at $1,769,000.

A man was rescued from an overturned Buick on Anderson Road near Magarity Road in Tysons today (Thursday).

The crash happened near Lost Dog Cafe in Tysons shortly before 12:30 p.m., Erica Webb, a spokesperson for the Fairfax County Police Department, told Tysons Reporter.

Rescue personnel have now gotten the trapped man out of the car, Webb said.

“No one was transported [to the hospital],” Webb said, adding that it is unclear if the man was injured or not.

Anderson Road was briefly closed after the crash and is now open again, Webb said.

This Saturday, there will be a puppy party at Tysons Corner Center.

Attendees will get to play with puppies from two different litters. Wolf Trap Animal Rescue (WTAR) will host the event in coordination with BrandBox on Saturday, Aug. 10, from noon-3 p.m.

“Come by and meet some of the adorable faces that have been rescued, hear their story, and you’ll be sure to get quite a few licks in exchange,” a WTAR press release said.

The event will take place in BrandBox’s community lounge on the first level of Tysons Corner Center. Admission is $5 and will act as a donation to WTAR.

WTAR helps to find reliable and safe homes for shelter animals in the Northern Virginia region.

The puppies at this event will be available for adoption at WTAR’s “Clear the Shelters” event on Saturday, Aug. 17.

“This nationwide event has assisted in finding homes for more than 250,000 pets since 2015,” the press release said.

https://www.facebook.com/fairfaxcountyPD/videos/813842735632372/?v=813842735632372

A helicopter, an ATV and a team of firefighters and police officers came together to rescue a man who was injured in the Scott’s Run Nature Preserve on Tuesday evening (March 5).

According to a Facebook post by the police department, when the man didn’t return home after a hike, his sister became worried as temperatures dropped.

Police said the man had broken his leg and was stuck on the hiking trail for several hours. Officers were able to keep him stable and comfortable until firefighters used an ATV to reach him and carry him out.

“Our Fairfax One team began searching and was able to quickly locate the man,” police said in the post. “They then directed our officers and the Fire and Rescue team through the rough and dark terrain to reach him.”

“We’re happy to report that, thanks to this great collaboration and quick work, his is now safe!” police said in the post.

A woman was pinned between a minivan and a house after an unusual accident in McLean.

The crash happened in the driveway of the home on the 6800 block of Dean Drive, near Westmoreland Street, shortly before 1 p.m. Firefighters from Fairfax and Arlington counties used heavy equipment to free the woman, who suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

It was not immediately clear to rescuers how the crash happened, nor was it clear whether the woman had been driving the van or was simply standing next to it when it pinned her against the wall.

“It was probably just one of those weird things where something happened and she was stuck,” one first responder said.

The woman was transported via ambulance to Inova Fairfax Hospital.

During the rescue operation, a passerby stopped to see what was going on and remark on the number of emergency vehicles on the street.

“There was more response for this than for the double homicide here a few years ago,” she said.

Fairfax County police and firefighters are on the scene of a crash in McLean in which a car ran off the side of the road.

The crash was reported around 5 p.m. Wednesday at the intersection of Kirby Road and Barbee Street. Initial reports suggest the driver lost control of the vehicle and careened into a wooded area along the side of the road.

At least one person could be seen being loaded into an ambulance, which then left the scene en route to a local hospital.

There were no significant traffic backups as a result of the crash.

Map and street view via Google Maps

Fairfax County Fire and Rescue is working to rescue a person “trapped on the rocks” near a trail in Scott’s Run Nature Preserve.

The “low-angle rescue” was underway as of 4:50 p.m., according to the fire department’s Twitter account. So far there’s no word on the nature of the patient’s injuries, though initial reports suggest that the patient was found near a creek and rescuers are worried about him or her becoming hypothermic.

An ATV, a stokes basket and spotlights are reportedly being utilized as part of the rescue operation.

The nature preserve abuts Georgetown Pike, the Capital Beltway and the Potomac River.

Update at 5:30 p.m. — The victim has been carried out of the woods, according to scanner traffic.

Units on scene 7400 Georgetown Pike with one patient trapped on the rocks off the trail. Crews attempting low-angle rescue. Unknown injuries. #fcfrd #news pic.twitter.com/p5PEgtyfbZ

— Fairfax Fire/Rescue (@ffxfirerescue) November 21, 2018

Photo via Fairfax County Park Authority. Map via Google Maps.