Fire at a northwest Atlanta rooming house forced residents from their beds Thursday morning and sent a firefighter to a hospital.
Shawn Manns, a battalion chief for the Atlanta fire department, said his crew member sustained a knee injury when he stepped through a hole in the fire-compromised floor. The firefighter was conducting a primary search of the three-story home after it was reported that residents might be trapped inside.
“His foot went through the hole and his crew members were able to grab him, pull him up and get him outside,” Manns told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The firefighter was being treated at Grady Memorial Hospital.
Credit: John Spink / John.Spink@ajc.com
Credit: John Spink / John.Spink@ajc.com
Crews were called to the home at the corner of Burbank and Martin Luther King Jr. drives shortly after 3 a.m. and arrived within five minutes, Manns said. They quickly determined the fire was coming from the basement level and went inside to knock down the flames and search for occupants.
Five people were renting rooms, but only three were home when the fire broke out, according to resident Cecil Garrett. He and his roommates were able to get outside to safety before the fire crews arrived.
“By the time I decided to head out, my house was so full of smoke I just covered my mouth and took my time to crawl out,” Garrett said.
Credit: John Spink / John.Spink@ajc.com
Credit: John Spink / John.Spink@ajc.com
All five residents were staying on the top floor, away from the source of the fire in the basement, but Garrett said the entire building was gutted and he likely lost everything. He believed the home’s owner was doing renovations on the bottom level to prepare for more renters.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Credit: John Spink / John.Spink@ajc.com
Credit: John Spink / John.Spink@ajc.com
