Fire destroys apartments,leaves 18 without homes

A fire that started just before midnight on Friday, June 22, destroyed all eleven units of the Wayside Inn Apartments, just north of Cacapon State Park.

Flames and smoke shot high into the air and the fire could be seen for several miles.

"No one was hurt. Everyone pitched in to hit every door and make sure that everyone got out," Bruce Ullom said.

Ullom and John Schrider own the property at 9199 Valley Road.

The blaze started near the middle of the motel structure and then spread through the attic to all eleven units. Two cars parked in front of the apartments were also damaged by fire.

"No one was home in the unit where the fire started," said Schrider.

He said firemen told him that they suspected faulty electrical wiring as the cause.

Eighteen people were living in the apartment units, according to Ullom and Schrider.

Several people displaced by the fire with nowhere else to go were assisted by a representative of the Red Cross.

The building next to the apartments, which houses Gray Walls Market, Word to the Wise Christian Book Store and several other apartments, was not damaged.

When Judy Gray and Vera Walls of Gray Walls Market heard about the fire, they came and served coffee and snacks to fire and police emergency responders throughout the night.

Asked if they would rebuild, Ullom and Shrider said they did not know yet.

Captain James Struble of the Berkeley Springs Volunteer Fire Department said firefighters responded from South Morgan Great Cacapon, Hancock, Reynolds Store and Gainesboro. The Morgan County Rescue Squad, Morgan County Sheriff's deputies and the West Virginia State Police were also on the scene.