<sh>Two-Alarm House Fire
<bt>Units from the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department responded to a house fire in the 6100 block of Rockwell Court in Burke on Thursday, Dec. 15, said a fire and rescue press release.
Around 10:50 p.m., firefighters arrived at the single-family house and reported fire visible in the attic and heavy smoke coming from the eaves. They called for a second alarm, said the release, and with 60 emergency personnel at the scene brought the fire under control in 30 minutes. The fire was accidental, said the release, having begun in a manufactured metal or "zero-clearance" chimney system.
The fire was contained in the attic. It caused an estimated $300,000 in damage, said the release, and displaced two adults and one child.
<sh>Armed Robbery at 7-Eleven
<bt>A Mason Neck 7-Eleven store was robbed on Thursday night, Dec. 8, around 11:30 p.m., when two men walked into the store at 9804 Gunston Road and demanded cash, said a Fairfax County Police release.
One of the suspects, described as a 5-foot-tall man wearing blue jeans and a green jacket, pointed a gun at the 46-year-old clerk working at the time. The other suspect, described as 5 feet 6 inches tall, was wearing a gray sweatshirt and blue jeans. Both men were wearing black ski masks.
The two men took cash from a register, cigarettes and possibly scratch-off lottery tickets before getting into a car and driving north on Route 1.