HENRICO COUNTY, Va. — Fire destroyed a pool house at SwimRVA-North off Wilkinson Road in Henrico County early Tuesday morning.
Investigators are now working to determine whether a lightning strike may have sparked the fire.
Henrico Division of Fire crews were called around 1:13 a.m. to the 400 block of North Wilkinson Road for what was initially believed to be a brush fire. Officials later determined the fire involved the facility’s pool house building.
Chief Fire Marshal Scott Sutton said crews arrived within about six minutes and found the structure “well involved in fire.”
“They initiated an aggressive exterior fire attack to extinguish the flames,” Sutton said. “The fire marshal’s office was contacted to conduct an origin and cause investigation into the fire, and that’s where we are currently.”
Sutton said the building suffered extensive damage.
“There’s significant fire damage to the majority of the building,” he said. “The roof is partially collapsed and significant damage to the exterior walls of the building.”
A downed power line between utility poles on the property temporarily halted firefighting operations.
Dominion Energy crews responded to cut power to the line, allowing firefighters to continue battling the blaze.
Crews brought the fire under control a short time later.
Investigators are examining whether lightning may have caused the fire.
Sutton said officials requested assistance from Chesterfield County, which sent an accelerant-detection canine to the scene.
“That canine did not alert on any areas of concern,” Sutton said. “We’re finalizing the investigation right now, but we will be looking into more information, like the lightning strikes, as the days go on.”
Sutton said investigators have been in contact with property management but did not discuss the fire’s potential impact on businesses operating at the facility.
SwimRVA-North is the same facility where in June, 9-year-old King Overton drowned while attending a summer swim camp.
Sutton acknowledged heightened public attention surrounding the property following that tragedy.
“We recognize the previous events at the property, and that creates obviously some media interest and social media interest,” Sutton said. “But we’re going to do a thorough investigation to get to the appropriate cause of the fire.”
The parent of a young swimmer, who wanted to remain anonymous, said in a statement that their heart breaks for the child who drowned and for their family.
"We've had nothing but positive experiences with SwimRVA, and while we're disappointed that our daughter's swim lessons have been interrupted and it's been difficult to find openings elsewhere, that inconvenience pales in comparison to what one family is grieving," the parents wrote.
Sutton said the cause of the fire could be released later this week.
This is a developing story. Email the CBS 6 Newsroom if you have additional information to share.
This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy. To learn more about how we use AI in our newsroom, click here.
