Virginia firefighters were asked to perform a monumental task on a national landmark thanks to some gusty weather conditions recently.
On Friday, northern Virginia and the Washington, D.C., area experienced high winds of up to 60 mph—or a "wall of wind," as the Washington Post called it—and those gales created a problem for the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington Ridge Park in Rosslyn, ARLnow reports. The bronze monument is commonly referred to as the Iwo Jima memorial because it famously depicts six Marines raising the U.S. flag on the Pacific island's Mount Suribachi in 1945.
Friday's weather, however, stripped the memorial of arguably its most iconic feature: its unfurled flag, which had become tangled up in the windy conditions.
Officials with nearby Fort Myer Fire Department contacted the Arlington County Fire Department for help solving the problem Sunday. At roughly 78 feet tall from the top of the flagpole to the base of the memorial, the solution required more than just borrowing a neighbor's step stool. Unless your neighbor's step stool is Arlington County's Tower 104.
“Once they arrived, Firefighter Kristin Pardiny positioned the bucket for her crew to disentangle and inspect the flag’s halyard," department spokesman Taylor Blunt told ARLnow. “The operation was done in under 30 minutes with no damage found.”
Although Sunday's efforts were unusual for the Arlington County firefighters, this wasn't a first for the department.
“Capt. (Shawn) Pendo recalled only one other time that Tower 104 was requested to assist with the flag,” Blunt said. “(Pendo) and his crew were honored to fix our nation’s colors at such a hallowed landmark.”
