A Friday morning blaze at an Albemarle County hotel claimed the lives of two victims who were on a recruitment visit to the University Law School. The three-alarm fire occurred at the historic Clifton Country Inn in Shadwell.
Albemarle County firefighters responded to the scene after a 5:15 a.m. call; the building was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived.
The fire occurred in the Inn's main structure where six guests were staying. Only 15 guests were on the hotel grounds when the fire began.
The two victims of the fire were from Willkie, Farr and Gallagher, LLP, a New York-based international law firm. Patricia Langlade was a firm recruiting coordinator and Billie Kelly was a director of personnel. Both women were unable to be revived and were pronounced dead at the scene.
Seven of the other hotel guests who escaped from the fire also were attorneys from the firm, and six of them were University graduates. The group was on a privately organized trip to recruit second-year Law students.
Firefighters were able to rescue another woman, Margaret Mansouri, from the blaze. Mansouri, a Willkie lawyer and a 2002 graduate of the Law School, was transported to the University Medical Center.
An investigation into the fire's cause is ongoing. Albemarle County spokesperson Lee Catlin said yesterday investigators generally have determined the fire began in a downstairs living room but an exact cause has not been announced.
The damage to the interior of the structure was significantly worse than damage to the exterior, Catlin said. Housed in the interior were many period antiques. No damage estimates have been conducted yet, she added.
"We're devastated," said Stevenson Hopson, Law School senior assistant dean for career services. "These are longtime folks we have worked with for many years. It's just a terrible tragedy. Our hearts go out to their families and the firm."
Hopson visited Mansouri yesterday morning and said her condition is improving, adding that the Law school was unaware of this specific visit but that such recruitment trips are routinely conducted.
A statement on the Willkie firm's Web site states: "It is impossible to adequately convey the depth of our sadness over these events, which took the lives of two of the most beloved members of the Willkie family."
Professional counseling service will be made available for firm employees, according to the statement.
In the fiscal year 2002, the Willkie firm ranked 51st in the nation in annual gross revenue. The firm has offices in Paris, Brussels and London. In the past three years, 12 University students have joined the firm.
The main house of the Country Inn was built in 1799 by Thomas Mann Randolph, husband of Thomas Jefferson's daughter. The land on which the hotel sits once bordered the Shadwell Plantation where Jefferson was born in 1743. The facility opened as an inn in 1985, and a restaurant was added in 1991.
Portions of the Seminole Trail, Charlottesville, Fluvanna County and the Charlottesville/Albemarle Rescue Squads all responded to the incident.
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