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PORTSMOUTH, Va. - A one-year-old baby and his 16-year-old brother are recovering in the hospital with serious burn injuries after their home on Wall Street in Portsmouth broke out in flames Friday morning.

There were other children inside the home at the time. Firefighters say they were treated at local hospitals and released that afternoon.

Fire officials initially said four people were inside the home, but later said a total of five minors were in the home when the fire started and filled the house with smoke.

Neighbors told News 3 that four of the children were inside the house and the fifth sibling was playing outside around the block at the time.

Erica Barner ran out to the chaotic scene.

She said she saw heavy smoke and flames coming from the home as she was next door visiting her best friend.

A loud noise alerted them to the fire.

“It almost sounded like someone taking a brick or something and hitting it against something,” Barner said. “It was like a POP or a BANG.”

Barner and her friend called 911 and immediately ran out to help.

She says four kids were inside sleeping, including a one-year-old baby. They managed to escape from the back of the home where the flames were quickly spreading.

“We saw them coming out of the back end of the house, just burned,” Barner said. “The oldest was completely…you see skin coming off the oldest, screaming. You see the baby burned, not really making any noise. “It stopped breathing, so his eyes rolled back. That was a lot. I’m sorry.”

Without hesitation, Barner gave the baby boy mouth to mouth to get him breathing on his own again.

“I dug my fingers in his nose, took all the smut out, went in his mouth and cleaned the smut out with rags and breathed into his mouth,” Barner said. “I shook him, pinched him. I just wanted to hear something, so I kept pinching him. I kept hitting his back, wiggling his arms, and I saw his eyes open. He was whining; it was a small sound, but it was good enough for me.”

Portsmouth Fire Rescue and Emergency Services arrived on the scene a short time later around 11:30 a.m.

Firefighters said they saw black smoke at the scene coming from the back of the house. At that point firefighters "simultaneously began searching for victims while making a quick, aggressive interior attack on the fire," according to a spokesperson.

Barner told News 3 that the baby and his 16-year-old brother were both badly burned, but the other two children, two girls aged 10 and seven, were not hurt.

The 16-year-old was babysitting his siblings. The mom wasn’t home at the time.

“I’m just a stranger and I’m going through an emotional roller coaster right now,” said Barner. “I can only imagine how she feels.”

Inside the home, the walls were filled with soot.

The house was later condemned. A notice posted to the window said it was unsafe to live in.

Barner, a mother of three sons herself, said she’s not a hero.

“I consider myself a mom and I’m doing what I’m supposed to do,” she said. “I would only hope any human being would do the same thing without question.”

Several other neighbors came together to help this family. One neighbor who saw the flames called another neighbor who cut the power off to the house.

By Friday evening, fire officials had determined the cause of the fire. Fire marshals said the fire was accidental and due to an electrical short.

There was a smoke detector inside the home, but the smoke detector did not alert the occupants. Red Cross is providing support to the family.

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Casino set to open Jan. 15

Rivers Casino Portsmouth will be the first permanent casino to open in Virginia when it opens its doors to the public on Jan. 15, 2023, but local media outlets got a sneak peek on Tuesday.

With 28 days until opening — the casino will open for two “charity days” on Jan. 10 and 12 — construction workers are hurrying to put the finishing touches on the $340 million, 250,000-square-foot casino, which will be operated by Chicago-based Rush Street Gaming. Construction began in December 2021. General Manager Roy Corby hosted Tuesday’s media tour.

The entertainment venue, located along Victory Drive in Portsmouth, will feature 1,448 slot machines, 57 table games and 24 poker tables. It’s expected to bring $16.3 million in annual tax revenues to the city. When it opens, it will be the commonwealth’s first permanent casino, though a temporary casino has been open in Bristol since July. Two other proposed casinos are in the pipeline in Danville and Norfolk.

The Sound Bar will feature live entertainment Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, with room for 120 people. It has a rounded bar with 88 seats and tables with seating near the stage.

The poker room will have 24 tables — not yet delivered — as well as an area where players can cash in their winnings and a host check-in area. The poker room is apart from the main floor.

The main casino floor will have 1,448 slot machines, 1,100 of which have already been delivered. About 300 are in the right places already, but the rest are yet to be installed. Another 348 will be delivered before opening day, Corby says.

The 90,000-square-foot main casino floor will have 57 tables, 24 of them for poker games, and others for blackjack, craps (live and electronic), roulette and baccarat.

Corby said the casino has held five job fairs and will hold one more before opening day. More than 1,100 full-time employees have been hired so far, but the casino is still hiring. More than 5,000 people have filled out applications, he said. Though all hires so far have been full time, there has been demand for part-time work. Rivers Casino Portsmouth’s estimated annual payroll will be $62 million.

The sportsbook area will have a screen that is 12 feet high and 62 feet wide, for a 753-square-foot viewing wall that can show dozens of televised sports. Overlooking the sportsbook will be a Topgolf suite with three bays, each holding up to eight guests.

The high-limit game room will have 85 slot machines and 11 tables, along with two private salons and a private table area, for gamblers who are interested in a high roller experience.

Inside the casino, there are three restaurants — Starbucks, Slice Pizzeria, Mian (pictured above), a fast-casual Asian restaurant, which is in all of Bet Rivers’ casinos.

Two restaurants will be accessible from outside the main floor and anyone, even those younger than 21, will be able to eat there. Crossings Cafe (below) is a 24/7 restaurant and seats more than 140 guests.

Admiral’s Steak & Seafood will seat 250 people, with private dining options for small and large parties and seating indoors and outdoors.

Admiral’s will also feature two large bars, including the one below, just inside the doors to the steakhouse.

The 25,000-square-foot event center can be used as convention space for conferences and performances. Corby said that when set up with tables, it can hold 1,100 to 1,400 people, and when set up theater-style, it can hold 1,500 to 1,700 people. If arranged for standing-room only, the center can hold up to 2,000 people. The space has already been booked for Portsmouth’s State of the City address and Tidewater Community College’s upcoming inauguration ceremony for President Marcia Conston. (The photo above shows the pre-reception area at the entrance to the event space.)

Virginia Beach-based S.B. Ballard Construction Co. and Philadelphia-based Yates Construction are the general contractors. Raleigh, North Carolina-based Kimley-Horn is the engineering consultant; Las Vegas-based Klai Juba Wald Architecture + Interiors is the architect of record; New York-based Jeffrey Beers International is the primary interior designer and Illinois-based DMAC Architecture & Interiors is the designer of the interior venues.

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PORTSMOUTH — Siemens Gamesa announced Monday that it plans to build the United States’ first offshore wind turbine blade facility at the Portsmouth Marine Terminal, notching a major win for Virginia as it strives to become a hub for the nation’s fledgling offshore wind energy industry.

“Today’s announcement will help position Hampton Roads as the offshore wind development hub for the nation,” said Bob Blue, CEO, chairman and president of Dominion Energy, which plans to use turbines supplied by Siemens Gamesa for its 2.6 gigawatt Virginia Coastal Offshore Wind project being developed 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach.

A 12 megawatt pilot constructed by Dominion became the nation’s first offshore wind installation in federal waters and began delivering energy to customers in January 2021.

“Just as Pittsburgh became synonymous with America’s steel industry in an earlier era and Silicon Valley is synonymous with advanced technology today, Hampton Roads could become synonymous not only with the maritime industry but with offshore wind,” said Blue.

The Spanish-German wind engineering company said it plans to invest more than $200 million in the Portsmouth Marine Terminal facility, which will produce blades for offshore wind projects throughout North America. When fully operational, the facility will be capable of producing blades for 100 turbines annually and is expected to create over 300 jobs.

In Virginia, lawmakers have sold offshore wind as a major job creator. The state has set an aggressive goal under the 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act of developing 5.2 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2034. Dominion’s CVOW project, which would produce half of that power, is currently being reviewed by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management.

“We did not get here by accident,” Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said Monday. “We have planned and worked hard to lay the foundations for offshore wind and position Virginia as the leader.”

Among the inducements Virginia offered Siemens Gamesa to locate their facility in Portsmouth are $17.1 million in Virginia Public Building Authority bonds to fund infrastructure improvements and site work for the facility as well as recruitment and training support through the state’s Virginia Talent Accelerator Program.

Steve Dayney, Siemens Gamesa’s head of offshore wind for North America, said the company had chosen Virginia not only because of its existing relationship with Dominion but also because of “the suitability of the site,” including its deepwater port, lack of overhead bridges and wide open space at the Portsmouth Marine Terminal.

Offshore wind is increasingly becoming a critical component of both electric power producers’ plans to transition away from fossil fuels and state and federal aspirations to develop renewable energy that can replace coal and natural gas while driving economic growth.

“We have a moral responsibility to reduce emissions,” said Virginia Rep. Bobby Scott, D-3rd, Monday in Portsmouth.

However, while the technology has been widely deployed throughout Europe and Asia, the U.S. has been slow to adopt it and currently lacks the supply chain to manufacture and install turbines. Earlier this year, major manufacturers including Siemens Gamesa told Reuters that they would need to see a reliable pipeline of projects moving forward in the U.S. before putting down roots stateside.

On Monday, Dayney reiterated that for Siemens Gamesa, “what is important is there is long-term certainty for the investment of hundreds of millions of dollars” in offshore wind.

Shipping turbine components across the Atlantic for U.S. projects has also been dogged by special challenges.

Under the federal Jones Act, any vessel carrying goods between two points in the U.S. must be built and registered in the United States. Despite that restriction, no such vessels with the capacity to transport turbine components currently exist in the U.S. Dominion is building the first Jones Act-compliant offshore wind installation ship in Texas, which has been christened Charybdis after a sea monster in “The Odyssey” and is expected to be completed by late 2023 and docked in Portsmouth.

President Joseph Biden’s administration has sought to jumpstart industry growth, laying out an ambitious plan to develop offshore wind along much of the East Coast, West Coast and Gulf of Mexico. In March, the administration set a target of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030.

“We have been lagging Europe in the establishment of offshore wind, but by adding wind capacity we’re going to diversify our energy supply and decarbonize our existing fossil fuel base,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm Monday in Portsmouth.

Granholm also took the opportunity to boost Biden’s Build Back Better plan, emphasizing the potential of the offshore wind industry to create jobs.

“You’re going to need engineers and construction workers to get the turbines up,” she said. “You’re going to need turbine technicians and support staff to keep them running. You’re going to need line workers to connect the projects to the transmission grid, and many, many more.”

This breaking news article has been updated.

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Posted at 4:54 PM, Aug 23, 2021

and last updated 2:33 PM, Aug 23, 2021

PORTSMOUTH, Va. - A felony in Virginia means you automatically lose your civil rights to vote, serve on a jury, run for office, become a notary public and carry a firearm.

All of those rights, except the right to bear arms, can be restored once a person completes their sentence and any probation.

Dashunda Washington is the CEO of Restoration of Rights LLC. She helps people move on from problems in the past.

“For someone who’s 56 years old and made a mistake or may have done a burglary 30 years ago, how long are we going to hold him to that?" she questioned.

Washington says a lot of people don’t know that they can get their gun rights restored.

She also helps those who were formally incarcerated petition for removal from sex offender registries, expungement and pardons.

She claims to have a 100% success rate with about 25 clients in total over the course of two years.

Washington says the key is her clients prove that they’ve done the work to positively impact their community.

“It could be teaching children how to tie [neck] ties, or it could be feeding the homeless,” she explained.

With time, counseling and a commitment to bettering their community, Washington says her clients are able to fully realize a new chapter in life.

“For them, they feel like they’ve been set free,” said Washington. “For them, it feels like, 'I don’t have to carry this weight of people seeing me differently,' so for them, it’s a road to freedom.”

People can file petitions on their own, but it’s very important to do research on the process.

Related: Program in Newport News gives former inmates a second chance

Washington provides services that cost can cost $250-$500. She can be reached by email at restoration.rights@gmail.com or by phone at 757-304-1034.

Individuals are encouraged to contact the Secretary of the Commonwealth to request restoration of their civil rights online or by calling (804) 692-0104.

Copyright 2021 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Gov. Ralph Northam was joined by energy officials in Portsmouth on Monday to make a special announcement regarding offshore wind.

PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Portsmouth will become the home to the United States' first offshore wind turbine blade facility, creating hundreds of new jobs for the region.

Governor Ralph Northam made the announcement Monday morning, saying Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy will lease more than 80 acres of the Portsmouth Marine Terminal and will build a facility to produce turbine blades supplying offshore wind projects in North America.

Dominion Energy had previously selected Siemens Gamesa as its partner for the creation of offshore wind turbines 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach.

“Today’s announcement will help position Hampton Roads as the offshore wind development hub in the nation, a role it is ideally suited for thanks to the advantages to the Port of Virginia,” said Bob Blue, the President and CEO of Dominion Energy.

Northam said the new facility will create 310 new jobs, of which roughly 50 will be service jobs to support the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Project.

The project will reportedly cost about $200 million, including over $80 million in investments for buildings and equipment at the Portsmouth Marine Terminal.

“We always believe that a local supply chain is key to ensure an offshore wind industry in the U.S.,” said Steve Dayney, the head of Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy.

.@GovernorVA announced @DominionEnergy will partner with @SiemensGamesaNA to expand its Coastal Virginia Offshore Project.It will bring electricity to nearly 660,000 homes in Virginia. pic.twitter.com/VabC3vSogB

— Kaicey Baylor (@kaiceybaylor) October 25, 2021

"This is good news for energy customers, the union workers who will bring this project to life, and our business partners," Northam said. "Make no mistake: Virginia is building a new industry in renewable energy, with more new jobs to follow, and that’s good news for our country."

Also attending Monday's announcement was U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm.

"Offshore wind energy will create jobs and economic prosperity across the country, and with President Biden’s Build Back Better Agenda, we’re showing that the United States is open for business on clean energy," she said.

Once completed in 2026, officials said turbines used for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project will allow for the production of more than 2,600 megawatts of clean energy, which is enough to power up to 660,000 homes. Dominion said it will also avoid as much as five million tons of carbon dioxide annually.

"By adding wind capacity, we’re going to diversify our energy supply, de-carbonize our existing fossil fuels base," Granholm said. "We will keep American prices affordable.”

U.S. Sen. Mark Warner noted this announcement was a major milestone for Virginia's first offshore wind project, which he said was the second active offshore wind project in the country.

"I am proud that Virginia is leading the way in offshore wind development and reinforcing its role as a major player in an industry that will power our future," Warner said.