JAMES CITY COUNTY, Va. — An underground fire that started Saturday morning has destroyed a parking lot behind the Williamsburg Premium Outlets.
Days later, smoke and flames are still visible and can be seen from the neighborhood right next door, by people like Mary Beth Carter.
Carter says this whole situation is keeping her up at night.
Watch previous coverage: Smoke increasing from underground fire at Williamsburg Premium Outlets
"We've noticed that the last two nights it has gotten worse and last night there were a lot of flames and my neighbor and I were worried," said Carter.
Chief Ryan Ashe with the James City County Fire Department told News 3 that an underground fire was to blame, however, fire officials don't know how it started.
"What we have here is an underground stormwater chamber consisting of modular crates made of high-density plastic caught on fire," said Chief Ashe.
Watch previous coverage: Fire causes partial parking lot collapse at Williamsburg Premium Outlets
Basically, the structure built under the parking lot to help with stormwater runoff has somehow caught fire.
"The plastic baskets or crates that are used to construct the storm water facility when those were impinged by heat or flame lost some of their integrity and began to shift resulting in the collapse of the concrete and gravel that makes the area buckle," added Chief Ashe.
Fire officials say it's not connected to any sanitary sewer systems. They say Virginia Natural Gas did secure one line in the area out of an abundance of caution.
Since Saturday, Fire Chief Ryan Ashe says this whole has gotten bigger.
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"When we arrived on Saturday, there was an initial collapse located in the rear of the parking area for the day Saturday and into yesterday and even more this morning to where now we have around 75 to 80 percent of the parking areas collapsed," Chief Ashe said.
Firefighters say while there's not much they can do to stop the fire, they know that it shouldn't spread past this parking lot.
"We know that it's contained here so outside of this storm water facility is a number of manifolds that help distribute the water from the front parking lot back here and we know that those are concreted and will not burn past that point," said Chief Ashe.
He says the air is being tested, and all tests have come back within normal ranges.
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Residents like Carter say the sight of smoke and fire is still a concern for them and will be for a little bit.
"My worry of course is that the leaves are dropping there are a lot of leaves what if something catches fire we are always worried about that but again they've assured us that we should be OK," said Carter.
Fire officials told News 3 that they're letting the fire burn off at this point because they can't get the water in the right areas to extinguish it. If you suffer from respiratory issues, be mindful of this area since smoke is still present and will be present for a few more days.
