An overnight apartment fire in Norcross has displaced 20 people.
One police officer, who arrived before firefighters, reported seeing apartment residents “jump from the second-floor window.”
Vanessa Dukes says she tried to get out of the front door, but her route was blocked by flames.
Duke described her roommate’s decision to take a chance and get out.
“By the time we get to the front door, the fire is right in our face. God was with her, because she ran out that door, got down them steps out of there. I had to turn back and jump from the window,” Dukes said.
With no clear path to escape, she had to retreat back to the rear of the apartment and climb out the second-floor window.
“I was sitting in the window with one leg in and one leg out. And when a lady heard me say, ‘Somebody help me,’ she called for her husband. He said, ‘Don’t jump, I got you.’ So that’s when I crawled my other leg out and he started grabbing me by the feet, then on up till I had the chance to get down,” said Dukes.
As soon as she was safe on the ground, everything started falling in where she had just been.
Twenty other people also escaped. One man was taken to a hospital for minor burns after helping others get out.
Channel 2’s Steve Gehlbach reports eight units in the Sinclair Apartments have been destroyed by the fire.
The American Red Cross is providing food, clothing, shoes and lodging to the families that were displaced.
