Electrical likely to blame for early morning fire in Williamsburg

Williamsburg firefighters say an electrical problem is likely to blame for an early morning fire Sunday that severely damaged a home.

Fire Chief James Privett said that the four outside walls of the 110 Hill Street home are still standing but that fire gutted the interior of the structure.

The fire was reported about 4:10 a.m. Sunday and 11 firefighters and two fire trucks were on the scene for over four hours.

The Kentucky Fire Marshal’s Office examined the home Tuesday morning and ruled out arson, Privett said.

Although the fire marshal hasn’t officially determined a cause of the blaze, Privett said there are strong indications that it was electrical in nature.

Mary Jane White owned the home, but no one was living there on a full-time basis and no one was home when the fire broke out.

"Upon arrival, the house was fully engulfed in flames," Privett said. "It was one of those fires that you just couldn’t get to go out."
Privett said that the blaze appeared to start in the rear of the older one-story wood framed house. In one spot, the fire burned through the floor into the basement.

The home was well-insulated and the roof appeared to have been repaired several times, which made it harder for firefighters to put out the blaze.

"When you get some of these older structures, they have two, three and four roofs where people have repaired them and they are hard to do anything with," he added.

No one was injured during the blaze or trying to put out the fire.