Brookhaven apartment fire leaves 3 families temporarily homeless

An apartment fire in the 3500 block of Buford Highway left three Brookhaven families without homes Tuesday night, a spokesman with DeKalb County Fire and Rescue said.

Capt. Eric Jackson said the fire started in one unit, damaging its interior, and three additional units sustained water damage.

Brookhaven police helped evacuate all 11 families living in the 12-unit complex and firefighters put the fire out in under 20 minutes, Jackson said.

“Out of those 11, at least half will come back because they were evacuated for precautionary reasons,” Jackson said.

The Red Cross will come out to determine what immediate needs the three affected families have, including temporary housing, Jackson said.

No details on what caused the fire have yet been determined.

“We did what was necessary to stop the fire and so now we have cleared the scene so investigators can do their work,” Jackson said.