After Delays and Defects, Fire Station Is Resuscitated

The new Arlington County fire station near the Pentagon was supposed to have been finished two years ago, a state-of-the-art tribute to the firefighters who were among the first responders to the fiery crash scene on Sept. 11, 2001.

But the project remains unfinished because of a lengthy dispute between a fired contractor and the county over faulty workmanship, including wobbly masonry and moldy interior walls.

In recent months, a new contractor has been hired and has begun repairing the half-complete building after it sat shuttered for months. The fire station is expected to open in the spring.

But it's still unclear who will ultimately pick up the tab for the costly repairs -- the bonding company or county taxpayers.

The county says the work will be paid for by the bonding company that insured the fired contractor; the insurer says it will pay for the repairs for now, but that the matter will later have to be sorted out in court.

The matter has continued to rankle some neighbors in the modest brick-and-wood-frame bungalows and high-rise condominiums surrounding the construction site, which occupies a prominent spot on South Hayes Street just south of the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City.

And it has become a campaign issue in the County Board race: Michael T. McMenamin, a Republican challenging board Chairman Chris Zimmerman (D), announced his candidacy in May standing before the half-built fire station, which he calls a symbol of county waste and mismanagement.

About 50 people attended a candidates forum last week at a community center next door to the station, where Zimmerman and other board candidates fielded questions that included a pointed query about the fire station debacle and cost overruns on other county building projects.

"Why can't we have a more efficient government?" one questioner asked.

Zimmerman chose to address the problem of the fire station directly in his remarks.

"There's a little bit of 'kill the messenger' here," Zimmerman said. "The problem was that was that the contractor wasn't doing his job. The fact is, they weren't doing the job, and our people . . . threw them off the job and found some people who could finish it.

"By next spring you'll have one of the finest local fire stations ever built. That's why I'm proud of the way that's been handled."