Four firefighters suffered injuries battling a Tuesday night blaze that destroyed a large, vacant home in the Druid Hills neighborhood of northeast Atlanta.
One firefighter was trapped in the burning house and had to be extricated by fellow firefighters using a metal-cutting saw, according to Atlanta fire spokeswoman Janet Ward.
Ward said that firefighter was in good condition Wednesday at Grady Memorial Hospital. The other injured firefighters were treated for minor injuries at Grady and released.
The cause of the 10 p.m. blaze has not been determined.
Honora Handley and her husband Dan recently bought the house, which was designed by architect Francis Palmer Smith, who also designed downtown’s Rhodes-Haverty Building and William-Oliver Building.
“We closed on it Dec. 30 and we had all of our friends over on January 1 for an open house and people loved it,” she said.
Handley said thee couple had big plans for the home.
“We pulled the historic plans from Francis Palmer Smith and were looking to put it back to its original splendor,” she said. “It needed work and we were looking to lovingly restore it and it’s just a shock that it’s gone. We pulled up this morning and the front of it just collapsed. Last night, I was so hopeful, maybe they can save the library or maybe they can save something else. I’m just completely devastated.”
The fire came close to spreading to a piece of Atlanta movie history.
For the past 13 years, Jim Roberts and his family have lived next door in the home where the 1989 movie, “Driving Miss Daisy,” was filmed.
“Because it was so windy, it was blowing embers onto our house,” Roberts said.
Roberts said the fire caused anxious moments. He spent part of the night “watching embers fly onto and land on the roof, then slide down the roof toward the gutter. I had a hose out there, trying to spray into the gutters to make the leaves wet so they wouldn’t catch. It was terrifying.”
Roberts said the vacant house had been vacant for about 17 years.
“It was an absolutely grand house, much grander than ours,” Roberts said. “On the interior, magnificent wood, libraries, staircases, just absolutely fantastic. It was in a sad state when they bought it, so our enthusiasm was very, very high.”
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