Woman escapes 2 house fires in 1 week in SW Atlanta neighborhood

A woman whose home was damaged in a fire a week ago found herself escaping a second fire that left two others without a home Tuesday morning.

Jerri Lee had been staying with a woman a few doors down after her home in the Audobon Forest neighborhood of southwest Atlanta was lost to lightning strike, she said. Early Tuesday morning, Atlanta fire crews found heavy smoke coming from the roof of her neighbor’s home in the 800 block of Oriole Drive.

Firefighters were able to quickly put the fire out, and no burn injuries were reported, Atlanta fire Battalion Chief Deaunte Grier told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution at the scene. One woman, Liza Milagro, was suffering from smoke inhalation and was taken to a hospital.

Milagro’s daughter also was in the house but was uninjured. It was not clear how old her daughter is.

“The most challenging part of this fire was the fire being in the attic of the location. It was just hard to find, just hard to get to,” Grier said. “But units quickly got in and found the location and was able to get into the attic and put it out quickly.”

The cause of the blaze remains under investigation.