Antuan Aguirre heard a faint alarm beeping in his hallway and then a second much louder one blaring in the attic of his home near Woodstock late one evening this month. He initially thought it was somebody trying to break in.
When Aguirre, a Marine veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, opened his bedroom door, foul-smelling smoke poured in. The scent took him back to Afghanistan, where U.S. troops burned their waste — including unexploded ordnance, metal cans, plastics, Styrofoam, rubber, paint and lubricants — in vast open pits ignited with jet fuel. He considered heading downstairs to put out the fire. But the smoke was too thick.
Aguirre closed his bedroom door and roused his wife, Lexi. The windows in their room were painted shut. Pumped with adrenaline, he jerked one of them open, breaking the frame. They stepped out onto the roof as he hollered for help.
And then something happened that confirmed what Aguirre believed about his neighborhood.
He relocated his family from California to Georgia five years ago, seeking a lower cost of living and a new start. Aguirre first rented homes in the Atlanta area. Then he found an affordable two-story house for sale in Cherokee County and fell in love with its wraparound porch and big, wooded lot. He bought it in May and married Lexi the following month.
They didn’t know anyone when they moved into the Knotts Landing community. Carrying gift baskets and homemade potpies, neighbors introduced themselves. Some encouraged Lexi to join them for their morning walks. Others invited the couple’s 2-year-old daughter, Sienna, to playdates with their children.
“It was crazy. I thought it was just in the movies, do you know what I mean? In Cali, you don’t even know your neighbor’s name,” said Aguirre, a Norfolk Southern train dispatcher. “We thought we were lucky.”
His neighbors rushed to his rescue Feb. 18.
Chuck Smith, a retired postal worker who lives across the street, was watching TV when he heard the smoke alarms and cries for help. He glanced outside and saw Aguirre’s living room was on fire. Smith dialed 911 and headed across the street. His neighbor, Patty Crawford, heard the alarms, too. She grabbed her family’s Little Giant extension ladder and handed it to Smith. He handed her his phone so she could stay on the call with the emergency dispatcher. Smith placed the ladder up against Aguirre’s home and helped the couple down. Firefighters arrived around the same time.
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Credit: Miguel Martinez
The blaze remains under investigation, according to Woodstock and Cherokee County fire officials. Aguirre said it’s possible it started after a lamp tipped over on his daughter’s toy bucket in their living room. He is thankful both of his kids were not home that night. His daughter was sleeping over at her grandmother’s house, while his 16-year-old son, Kameron, was at a church camp.
Friends are giving the family a place to stay while the home undergoes extensive repairs. And neighbors have given the Aguirre family clothes, toys and gift cards from Walmart and Target.
Aguirre said his home is well-insured, so he plans to rebuild. To thank his quick-thinking neighbors, he is planning a big taco party. Some in his “loving community,” he said, have good-naturedly joked they will play the Trammps’ “Disco Inferno” at the festive event.
“It is phenomenal. It is jaw dropping,” he said of his neighbors’ support. “We will never, ever leave this neighborhood because of this.”
He added: “We are here for life, for sure.”
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Credit: Miguel Martinez
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