UPDATED: Investigators now think W’burg apartment fire that injured two was case of arson

Williamsburg firefighters put years of training to good use Monday afternoon saving a woman trapped on the second floor of a burning apartment building.

The fire at 80 North Sixth Street was reported to the Whitley County 911 dispatch center about 4:17 p.m. Monday.

Firefighter Dorman Patrick, one of the first firefighters to arrive on the scene, quickly got a ladder up to Hope Grubb, who was trapped in the second floor apartment. He helped her go down the ladder face first to safety.

Patrick said that when he arrived at the scene, he saw a woman on the second floor in the last apartment on the left.

"I was concerned for her safety. She was definitely in immediate danger. There were flames coming out of the top floor of the building," Patrick said. "She was definitely in a panic. Anyone would have been.

"She had her hands out the window I guess hollering for help. She had a little Chihuahua dog in her hands. Me, Assistant Chief Kevin Smith, and a couple of other firefighters put up a ladder to the window there.

"We broke out the window some more, and brought her down the ladder head first. We got her to safety as best we could."

Patrick admits this is something firefighters train for, but never actually expect they will use.

"It felt good to actually make a difference. The whole department did a really good job," Patrick said. "If it hadn’t been for the quick response time, I definitely don’t think things would have gone the way they did. She’s definitely lucky. It was definitely a scary moment for all of us."

Williamsburg firefighters conduct training twice a month to prepare for instances like this.

"We are top notch and we keep our training up to prepare for stuff like this," Patrick added.

Whitley County EMS transported Grubb to Baptist Regional Medical Center in Corbin where she was treated and released Monday.

A second woman, Linda Bock, also sustained injuries during the blaze, including smoke inhalation and first and second-degree burns. She was flown by Air Evac Lifeteam to the University of Tennessee Medical Center, and later transferred to the

Vanderbilt University Hospital Burn Center, according to Williamsburg Fire Chief James Privett.

Privett said that she apparently jumped from a fire escape during the blaze.

"The firemen did a great job. I want to commend them for the job they did rescuing people and getting people out of the building, and getting the people out as quick as they did," Privett said.

Both Kentucky State Police arson investigators and the Kentucky Fire Marshal’s Office were contacted, and sent investigators to the scene early Monday evening.

"I’m getting different rumors, and I’m not really sure at this time," Privett said Monday about the fire’s cause. "I’m going to let the state come in and arson investigators come in to make the cause and determination on it."

Tuesday morning, Privett said he was still waiting to get the official reports from state investigators, but from what he gathers there were two points of origin, or separate places where the blaze began. Arson is suspected.

The two-story building held five apartments inside, and was fully engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived.

Privett thinks that the building had been burning for some time when firefighters got there, but doesn’t know exactly how long it had been burning.

The building will likely be a total loss.

Tim Kersey, a building resident for about one year, credits two friends, James Roberts and Tommy Powers, with saving the life of his wife, Leslie Kersey, who was asleep when the fire broke out.

James Roberts was in the apartment with Leslie Kersey when he noticed the smoke.

Roberts said that when he saw smoke rolling into the apartment, he just thought that a car engine had blown up outside.
He helped get Leslie Kersey up, and then Tommy Powers rushed into the building and helped them get out.

"Tommy Powers, he’s a good boy. I owe him a lot. I owe him a big thanks for saving my wife," said Tim Kersey. "He saved my wife’s life right there because she is a diabetic and she sleeps heavy. She would have been burned alive."
Leslie Kersey said that she didn’t have much time to think when she woke up.

"I grabbed my animals and out the door I went. I’ve never been so scared in my life," said Kersey, who noted smoke was rolling out of the building when she got out.

"We weren’t out maybe five minutes and flames went shooting from the roof. I got out in the knick of time, thank God."
Privett said that some apartment residents returned to the scene Monday evening to look for missing pets, whose fate is uncertain.

The residents weren’t allowed in because investigators were working inside, but Privett said that firefighters didn’t recover any deceased pets from the building, which is a positive sign that the pets could have made it out.