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Family of five displaced, two taken to hospital after fire in Williamsburg

Posted at 5:18 AM, Mar 08, 2017
and last updated 2017-03-08 18:31:09-05

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - A family of five was displaced by a fire that damaged their Williamsburg home on Wednesday morning.

At 2:19 a.m., the Williamsburg Fire Department along with James City County and York County Fire Departments responded to a residential fire in the 200 block of Tyler Brooks Drive in the Skipwith Farms community.

When crews arrived on scene they found heavy smoke coming from a home, and one victim outside the home needing medical attention.

The fire was put under control at 2:44 a.m.

One adult and one child were transported to the hospital. The adult, a male in his 20s, had smoke inhalation and some burns to his body. The child was treated as a precaution.

The family of five are receiving assistance from family members.

At this time the cause of the fire is under investigation.

Williamsburg Deputy Fire Chief, Larry Snyder, says they believe a contributing factor to the family escaping the home safely was because they had their bedroom doors closed while they were sleeping.

They also kept the front door to their home closed.

"It gives you a little extra time to get your family out of the home," says Chief Snyder. "Now today, with the things that our houses are built with, the things that we put in them, we have three minutes."

Chief Snyder says it is why they are pushing the "close the door" campaign, started by Underwriters Laboratory after decades of research.

The department is also investigating whether or not the family had working smoke alarms in the home, but they are reminding the public that now is a good time to test alarms and change batteries if they are not working properly.