WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - A fire at King William Inn in Williamsburg left 67 people temporarily displaced and five people injured, including a child Saturday morning.
Of the five people injured, two adults were taken to the hospital by helicopter, and a child was taken to the hospital by ambulance.
“Two adults were flown to area hospitals,” said Williamsburg Deputy Fire Chief Larry Snyder. “The one pediatric was transported to a hospital. The other two adults were patient refusals, so they sought medical treatment on scene, but did not choose to be transported to the hospital. I do not know the extent of the injuries of the folks who were transported.”
As of Sunday, the two hospitalized adult patients are in stable condition and are expected to have a positive prognosis and outcome. There is currently no update on the pediatric patient.
According to the City of Williamsburg Fire Department, crews responded to the extended-stay hotel on Capitol Landing Road for a structure fire at 8:31 a.m., minutes after one of the people living there called 911.
“When they arrived on scene, they had heavy smoke and fire conditions from the front side of the building on floor 2,” said Deputy Chief Snyder. “Also on floor 2, above that near the roofline, had heavy fire, very visible fire and smoke coming from that.”
Casey Snyder was on her way to work at Copper Fox Distillery across the street as the smoke was billowing in the air .
“(I) could smell the smoke,” she said. “I saw a bunch of firetrucks, a lot of police activity. There were firefighters hosing off and catching their breath, and I think they had been working really hard to get the fire under control.”
It only took about 20 minutes for crews to put the flames out. WFD was assisted by the James City County Fire Department and York County Fire and Life Safety.
Deputy Fire Chief Snyder said firefighters worked quickly to keep it contained. The fire heavily damaged about 4 units of the 42-unit building.
“Getting people out and getting quick water on the fire and knocking it down pretty quickly really helped minimize the spread of the fire,” he said.
Long-time residents of King William Inn spent the afternoon packing up their belongings. None of the residents wanted to speak on camera but tell News 3, many of them have now been moved to Travelodge, which is managed by the same company.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
