Beach apartment building destroyed by fire off Laskin Road

VIRGINIA BEACH 

A two-story, four-unit building was destroyed by fire Saturday afternoon at the Emerald Point Apartments off Laskin Road, displacing as many as 15 people and injuring one.

Walking back from doing her laundry, a resident saw the flames in a neighboring building and called emergency dispatchers for help at about 4:30 p.m. Saturday, said Battalion Chief Hedley Austin.

A man was sent to the hospital with second-degree burns on his back and legs.

One apartment building on St. Bernard Square was completely destroyed, and a fire wall and firefighters' preventative efforts saved the connecting structures, Austin said.

The cause of the fire was still being investigated, but Austin said the fire appears to have started in the injured man's second-story apartment.

Though the majority of the smoke, fire and heat damage was on the second floor, the water used to extinguish the blaze heavily damaged the second floor.