The night was coming to a close, with Chantale Johnson watching "Wife Swap" on the living-room television and her boyfriend Lance Ferrell with a cigarette settling into his chair.
Then the couple heard their one-month-old son crying in another room, and Ferrell rushed off to settle the boy down.
But Ferrell set his cigarette on the chair, authorities said, touching off an early Thursday blaze that destroyed the family of seven's northeast Atlanta apartment and left the father hospitalized for burns and smoke inhalation.
Johnson said Ferrell was being treated for third-degree burns to his legs and one of his hands at Grady Memorial Hospital.
"They say it's going to take a while for him to recover," Johnson said. "I don't really know when he's getting out."
The fire broke out about 2:30 a.m. in Apartment D at the Edgewood Court apartments on Hardee Street, according to reports.
Johnson said she was preparing for bed when she smelled smoke in the apartment. When Johnson turned on the lights, she noticed smoke had already filled the unit.
Ferrell grabbed the baby, awakened the other four children and quickly ushered them outside. He handed his infant to a neighbor who lived in a unit below theirs.
Johnson said she remained inside, using old blankets to try to put out the fire. Ferrell returned to the apartment and tried to douse the blaze with water, but the flames grew higher, she said.
"At that point, we couldn't see any more in there," Johnson said. "I don't really know what happened."
Early reports from the scene said Ferrell twice rushed back into the apartment to save the children. But Johnson said he only braved the smoke and flames once: to help her try to stamp out the fire. When that failed, the couple fled to safety.
Johnson escaped the fire uninjured, and none of the children were hurt. They are staying with a friend at the apartment complex.
The fire gutted their apartment and damaged a couple of adjacent units.
"Everyone over here is really close," neighbor Raketa Franklin said. "That's why this is very hard. We're all going to have to pitch in."
The family lost almost everything in the fire: clothes, furniture and food. The American Red Cross said it would provide them and a neighboring family of four with vouchers for food, clothing and a nearby hotel to last them at least three days.
Natasha Toomer, assistant manager at Edgewood Court, said people had inquired about donating money and items to the family. Johnson said her church was also coming up with ways to help.
Right now, the family doesn't have much to call their own. But neighbor Evelyn Hall said they got out with each other.
"I was scared for them," she said. "But they're going to be okay."
About the Author
