JAMES CITY COUNTY, Va. — More than a year after an underground fire tore apart a parking lot behind the Williamsburg Premium Outlets, the site remains a gaping crater with little sign of progress.
Last Thanksgiving, News 3 reported on the fire that burned beneath the pavement for more than 100 hours, forcing firefighters to tear up concrete to reach the source. The damage left behind has sat largely untouched ever since.
“It does look like another planet,” said neighbor Victoria Gerousis, whose home sits just behind the site.
Gerousis remembers the uncertainty during the fire, which began Nov. 23 of last year in an underground stormwater retention facility.
“At one point, when everything started spreading here, we were about to leave the house because we didn’t know if it was going to spread,” she said. “The firefighters took care of that.”
She also recalls smoke infiltrating her home for days.
“It was smoldering for a while,” she said. “I remember we had to put tape all over our windows and doors so it didn’t get through.”
James City County Fire officials say the cause of the fire remains unknown.
Today, the lot looks much as it did in the weeks after the blaze — torn concrete, exposed earth, and no visible reconstruction. Nearby residents say they’ve heard nothing about when or how the property will be repaired.
“No, since all of that happened, we haven’t heard anything,” Gerousis said.
News 3 reached out to the company that operates the outlets but has not yet received a response.
However, county officials say they have approved an erosion and sediment control plan for parking lot remediation. The county is prepared to issue a land-disturbance permit once the applicant schedules a pre-construction meeting.
Neighbors say they hope the land can be restored to what it was before the busy shopping center expanded into the area.
“I wish they would cover it up and leave it be,” Gerousis said. “It was just woods and a little retaining pond.”
