A quiet morning of directing traffic quickly turned into a rescue mission Tuesday for the security team at Woodward Academy in College Park.
Situated near the private school campus in the 1700 block of Cambridge Avenue, a fire was spreading throughout a six-unit apartment building, with several people still inside.
At about 8:30 a.m., a cafeteria staff member alerted Director of Security Jeff Yarbrough to the danger, who radioed his team members stationed in different areas across the school. The officers saw the smoke and flames rising into the sky from campus.
“Oh lord, there’s a fire,” Security officer Brian Ferguson recalled thinking in that moment. “We needed to make sure, if possible, there was no loss of life. Everything else was secondary.”
Ferguson said he and fellow officers Tim Fenner, Rhavay Hines and Steven Boston beat the fire department to the scene. When they arrived, residents told them others were still inside the building, said Ferguson, who went around with Fenner banging on doors to alert the other tenants.
Inside one fully engulfed apartment, a 94-year-old woman was trapped. Despite having experience with similar situations as certified police officers, Ferguson said his team didn’t have the gear to reach her. The officers tried kicking in the front door, but flames and smoke erupted from the crack. So they backed off.
Ferguson and Hines worked their way toward another apartment, where a woman and her daughter were still inside.
“The daughter of the resident was unaware that a fire was even going on, and once she saw the flames she became visibly upset and kind of discombobulated of what she needed to do,” Ferguson said. “(Hines) ushered the daughter to safety and I went upstairs and was able to get the (mother) from her bed.”
Soon after, College Park firefighters arrived and gained entry to the apartment of the 94-year-old, who officials said was hard of hearing. A firefighter stumbled while escorting the woman during the rescue, but Fenner was nearby and carried her out, according to Ferguson.
Her clothes and hair caught on fire at one point, and she was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital with burns to her lower extremities, College Park fire Division Chief Damon Jones told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She is the widow of a former Woodward Academy faculty member, school officials said.
The fire, which originated in the kitchen, caused “significant” damage to one unit, Jones said. At least five others were damaged from the smoke and water, or had electrical issues.
All six families that lived in the building are displaced, he added. The owner told fire officials that several of the apartments had been occupied by the same tenants for 25 years.
Smoke from the fire also led to the evacuation of students at Liberation Academy, located less than a quarter-mile from the apartment building, according to Woodward Academy spokesperson Amy Morris. Woodward buses took those students to campus, where they waited for their parents to pick them up.
“Woodward provided lunches and water to the students and teachers, along with water to the apartment tenants,” Morris added.
A day later, after having time to reflect, Ferguson said it was just business as usual.
“Grateful that we were able to save lives, grateful that we made it out alive as well. But we still have a job to do,” he said. “We can’t focus necessarily on yesterday’s events because anything can happen today, and we have to make sure that you stay ready.”
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