Noticed it when I drove by the Washington Monument on the way to work. Hard to miss–the WM is ringed by a dozens of flags (my Italian friend saw that and said Americans are megalomaniacs).
I have no idea. This is where I usually go to find out and it says flags should be at full staff.
That site says, “The United States flag is flown at half-staff until sunset on July 25, 2015 honoring the victims of the tragedy in Chattanooga, Tennessee.” So perhaps someone forgot to raise the flags this morning?
A month later?
Sorry. I saw 25 and thought that was yesterday.
This is inaccurate. The flags are at half-staff nationwide at all Forest Service offices and locations (from Puerto Rico in the east to Guam in the south Pacific).
“Nationwide” is intended as a descriptor meaning all government locations, not simply geographically. Flags are half staff at all Forest Service locations, but not necessarily all government locations.
Makes sense, the Mall is a national park. I guess that somehow or other falls under Forest Service. Although I thought the flags were supposed to be lowered to indicate that the nation is in mourning, not just one agency.
When I see flags at half-staff and don’t know why, I often stop at any police station or fire station (or possibly a library) I happen to pass and ask why. Very commonly, it’s in honor of some local or regional law officer or fire fighter who died in action. Or, sometimes, I’ll just turn on the news radio. If it’s some major nationwide event, I’ll hear about it soon enough. If I don’t hear about it soon enough, then it’s time to ask at the local police station or fire station.
One day, some years ago, I saw flags at half-staff, and I hadn’t heard anything in the news about it. Turning on the radio, I found out: There was this space shuttle that had fallen out of the sky, incinerating itself and all aboard.
They’ll lower them for local or state issues, too. I remember the flag being lowered at my school when a beloved coach died of a heart attack.
The U.S. Forest Service is part of the Dept. of Agriculture, the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management are under the Dept. of Interior. (The reasons for this split are long and complicated). The Washington state fires are burning across both USFS and BLM lands and the dead firefighters were likely part if an inter-agency task force. The Mall also is under Interior (NPS I think) Hence the half-staff flags. Probably all divisions of Ag and Interior are under the half-staff order.