Fourteen people were displaced when a fire destroyed a boarding house in East Point early Tuesday morning.
The structure fire broke out at the Cheney Street Lodge shortly after 3:10 a.m., according to a news release from the East Point Fire Department. The boarding facility in the 2500 block of Cheney Street offered rooms for rent.
It burned for nearly 20 minutes before fire crews arrived on scene to begin extinguishing the flames, according to the release.
Fire department spokesperson Renita Shelton did not say if anyone was injured, citing the fact that firefighters are now investigating the blaze.
East Point firefighters were working to put out a fire along Candlewood Drive when the blaze at Cheney Street Lodge was reported. Department officials called College Park Fire Rescue for assistance, and a ladder truck and fire engine from that agency set out to the boarding house around 3:15 a.m.
The College Park fire crews didn’t arrive until 3:28 a.m. and found the boarding house fully engulfed. Heavy smoke and flames billowed from the front of the building, according to Shelton. East Point fire crews arrived at 3:32 a.m. and the two agencies began working together to douse the fire.
There was no indication how or where the fire ignited.
Shelton could not say how many people were affected, but the Georgia Red Cross confirmed that 14 people living at the boarding house were displaced. Volunteers responded to provide temporary housing and other emergency relief for the residents impacted by the fire, a Red Cross spokesperson said in a news release.
