Veteran killed in NW Atlanta fire was a ‘throwback’ to kinder time

When a boarded-up home went up in flames Friday morning in northwest Atlanta’s Bankhead neighborhood, witnesses knew a quick response from firefighters was crucial.

The home on Cairo Street may have appeared abandoned, but it was lovingly attended by Tyrone Sharpe, known to his neighbors as an Air Force veteran. He was being allowed to live there by the owner, according to Atlanta fire spokesman Sgt. Cortez Stafford.

The 911 call came in at 8:15 a.m., and fire crews from nearby Station 16 arrived within three minutes, Stafford said. Despite their best efforts, Stafford said, Sharpe could not be saved.

“He was a throwback,” his neighbor Antonio Sanchez said. “They don’t make them like Tyrone anymore. He had some struggles in his life, and he had fought through addiction and came out on the other side.”

Sanchez and his wife Maureen described Sharpe as the ideal neighbor. They would often walk outside to find Sharpe had finished mowing his own lawn and moved on to theirs, but he always refused payment. He didn’t accept handouts, Maureen Sanchez said, but he would take them up on an offer of fresh fish if they would stick around to help him barbecue it.

“He wanted to be sure he did everything he could to take care of that place and to take care of the people around him,” Antonio Sanchez said. “There’s not enough of that. There’s really not.”

Credit: JOHN SPINK / AJC

Credit: JOHN SPINK / AJC

Stafford said crews could see smoke billowing from the Cairo Street home as soon as they stepped out of the fire station on Joseph E. Boone Boulevard.

“When they turned the corner here, they did in fact see heavy flames and smoke already starting to travel pretty quickly throughout the house, so they knew they had to move quickly, especially with the possibility of someone being inside,” he said.

Firefighters had to remove boards from the windows and put out fire on the porch before they could begin rescue efforts.

“As soon as they stepped across the threshold, they did find in fact a male victim that was already down on the ground, and unfortunately that male is deceased at this time,” Stafford said.

The crews attempted CPR, but Sharpe was unable to be revived. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, Stafford said Monday.

Maureen Sanchez said she felt a little safer knowing Sharpe was always nearby. With him gone, she said the neighborhood lost its best watchman, stray dogs lost their meal ticket, and she lost a friend.

“Tyrone, literally, was the best neighbor,” Maureen Sanchez said. “There’s not a lot of houses around here, and sometimes police are not as responsive as they could be, so having someone here to watch out for us was really important.”

Sharpe did not have much, but he always had a few bucks for a friend in need. Even those who got under Sharpe’s skin could expect to benefit from his generosity, she said.

“We’d hear him cursing about someone he’d be in a fight with, and the next day he’d make sure to give them a meal,” Sanchez said.

To honor his memory, the couple is encouraging others to follow Sharpe’s example and look beyond their own front doors.

“Especially this year, there’s people in need,” Antonio Sanchez said. “They don’t have to be on the corners. They don’t have to be at a shelter. They could be your neighbor.”