A 71-year-old woman died early Wednesday morning in a house fire near Decatur, according to the DeKalb County Fire Rescue Department.
Crews were initially sent to the 1100 block of Mayfield Drive on a medical call, Capt. Eric Jackson said.
“As we read the comments (on the call), we saw there was verbiage that indicated someone may be on fire and that the house was also on fire,” he said.
The call was upgraded to a house fire with entrapment while crews were en route to the residence, Jackson said.
“We did in fact find heavy and pretty intense flames coming from the house and from the front window,” he said.
Firefighters battled the blaze and went into rescue mode, eventually finding the victim, who could not be resuscitated.
She was pronounced dead at the scene.
The DeKalb County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the victim as Quinette Ludlam.
Three other people — two adults and a teenager — were in the home at the time of the fire, but they were able to escape without injury, Jackson said.
By 12:30 p.m., officials were still investigating what led to the fire and where it began.
“The home did not burn down,”Jackson said, “but there is extensive damage through out the home.”
Ludlam’s loved ones gathered at the scene.
“Emotions are and have been running high at this scene,” Jackson said.
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