When disaster strikes, we want a team of supportive people to be there for us. Luckily, the James City County Fire Department had the perfect people on their side during an unusual time of need. The week before Thanksgiving, a fire started underneath a parking lot at the Williamsburg Premium Outlets. As much as the local fire department tried, putting out the fire by themselves was not working.
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Luckily, the City of Newport Fire Department was more than willing to join them in extinguishing this ongoing fire. They also had the help of a contractor who had been hired by the property owner. The below video gives us an aerial view of this underground fire.
@13newsnow The underground fire at the Williamsburg #hamptonroads#757###Premium Outlets continues to burn, now on its fourth day. 13News Now sent up a drone to survey the damage. Officials also said on Tuesday that the air quality continues to fall within "normal ranges." You can read more of their updates in our new story at the link in our bio. #jamescitycounty #williamsburg #virginia #localnews #weird #fire #drone #dronefootage #13newsnow #757 ♬ original sound – 13News Now
With the fire underground, it burned through a stormwater system that was around 12 feet deep. It also spanned a three-acre parking lot. Plastic crates make up the stormwater system, so as the pavement collapsed, the plastic crates began to burn, too. This quickly deteriorated the air quality, forcing nearby residents to stay inside or temporarily leave their homes.
Firefighters Partner Up to Extinguish an Unusual Underground Fire
Alone, the James City County Fire Department struggled to put out the fire. But in joining forces with the others, equipment was used to clear paths for water hose streams. So, while it took five days to put out the fire, it was cleared just in time for the holidays.
“We don’t run underground fires all that often. Certainly not to the scale of three acres and 12 feet deep,” fire chief Ryan Ashe says. “Luckily all of our partners here helped us manage this incident. Those relationships are really built pre-disaster, pre-event, and we were able to call on those folks to work on a challenge that none of us have dealt with before.”
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