No injuries were reported in a predawn blaze that heavily damaged one unit of a southwest Atlanta apartment complex and caused minor damage to neighboring units.
The fire apparently started around 6:20 a.m. in the kitchen of an apartment at the Appletree complex on Campbellton Road, Atlanta fire Capt. Jerry Ryan said.
Ryan told the AJC that police officers had already evacuated everyone from the building when the first fire crews arrived.
Firefighters were able to quickly douse the fire, limiting the extensive damage one unit in the two-story building.
Ryan said the building, which was built in the early 1970s, had no fire walls.
“Being an older structure, we get on them pretty fast,” Ryan said.
“Our experience with these apartments is [the fire] gets in the attic real fast, so we go straight to the attic,” he said. “We ventilate a hole in the attic so the heat and smoke can get out.”
Jeffrey Wyatt, who lives in the apartment where the fire started, said his roommate “had something on the stove and didn’t cut it off.”
Wyatt made it out of the burning apartment in only his shorts.
“I wasn’t worried about no clothes, as long as I was alive,” he said. “I don’t know what to do now.”
Brenda Hayes, who lives in an adjacent apartment, said this wasn’t the first time her neighbor’s unit had caught fire.
“Last year, her stove was on fire, she had a grease fire,” Hayes said. “I knew this day was coming, and I asked the Lord, ‘when this day comes, let her be able to get out safe and me too.’ I just thank God that we got out alive.”
About the Author
