Within three days last week, 131 people were displaced across Atlanta because of apartment and house fires. For three of those people, being displaced was the least of their worries during the blaze.
This is because 7-year-old Jackson Ford and his mother’s boyfriend, Hakim Sigmond, were trapped on the third floor of their Sandy Springs apartment as flames approached last Thursday.
“I’m trying to stay calm,” Sigmond told Channel 2 Action News.
They were trapped in one of the seven units that caught on fire at the Winding River Village apartments off Winding River Drive in north Sandy Springs that afternoon, AJC.com previously reported. The incident displaced 26 people.
RELATED: Over 130 displaced in fires across metro Atlanta within past 3 days
Before Roswell and Sandy Springs firefighters could battle the blaze, Sigmond was told by police that their only manner of escape was out the window, he told Channel 2.
“They told me to drop Jackson down, and they would catch him,” he said. “It felt like there was no other option.”
He was caught by the cops and was uninjured. His mother, Jasmine Seal, had been calling frantically trying to get in touch with Sigmond, knowing there was a fire.
“I was relieved when he was able to call me and say, ‘Hey, they caught Jackson. We think he’s fine,’” she said. “Then I was able to calm down a little bit.”
Cellphone video obtained by Channel 2 shows Sigmond take the three-story drop after Jackson’s successful escape.
“I'm hanging out the window, and I see the smoke and the flames in my peripheral, but I'm not acknowledging how big the fire actually is,” Sigmond said. “(When I landed,) I just felt the pain shoot up my back.”
He wasn’t as lucky, fracturing his back and wrist upon landing, Channel 2 reported. Sigmond, along with a Sandy Springs police officer, were the only two injured in the fire, but both are expected to recover.
Because the building has been deemed to be structurally unsafe, it’s been difficult for fire investigators to get inside to determine the cause of the fire, the news station reported. A fence has been placed around the entire building.
Those displaced are in the care of the Red Cross. As for Sigmond, Ford and Seal, they’re staying in a Norcross hotel because of their renters insurance, they told Channel 2.
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