Intense flames ripped through an East Point apartment complex and displaced 33 residents before crews were able to extinguish the blaze early Tuesday.
No one was injured in the fire at the Parkside at Camp Creek, but a firefighter was treated for dehydration, East Point fire spokeswoman Renita Shelton said.
When crews got to the apartment in the 4000 block of Fox Hunt Lane just after 5:20 a.m., “they found heavy fire and smoke coming from one of the units in the building,” Shelton said. “Evacuations were already underway.”
Ashley Jones, a resident in the apartment, said her grandmother woke her up when she heard people banging on the door about the fire.
“It was a real close call, real close,” Jones said. “If they hadn’t woken us up, we wouldn’t have known to get out.”
Officials said they initially planned to work from inside the building and had to instead focus on the exterior when they noticed flames on the roof.
“Immediately, lines were laid and firefighters entered an apartment to fight the flames,” Shelton said. “Ultimately, fire broke through the roof causing it to collapse onto the floor below [and] forcing firefighters to exit the building and launch a defensive attack.”
Crews worked to prevent the fire from spreading to neighboring buildings and were able to extinguish the fire at 6:10 a.m.
Temperatures were in the 70s during the blaze, and winds traveled slowly.
“Weather can impact a situation, but our firefighters are highly trained,” Shelton said. “They’re used to fighting in all kind of conditions, and it’s what we do everyday.”
Disaster volunteers were “helping people displaced by fire and smoke damage to 10 apartment homes,” Red Cross spokeswoman Divina Mims Puckett said.
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