Three dozen families were left homeless Saturday by a late morning fire that heavily damaged a Douglasville apartment building.
A Douglasville police officer initially noticed smoke coming from a building at the Century Arbor Place Apartments on Stewart Parkway at 11:42 a.m. Saturday, according to Douglas County spokesman Wes Tallon.
No injuries were reported. Tallon said other officers and firefighters quickly arrived, and, “they beat on every door and got everybody out.”
The fire apparently started on the third floor or in the attic of the three-story building. It took firefighters manning two ladder trucks and five engines about an hour to bring the blaze under control, Tallon told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“We responded in force and started pouring water on top of the building,” he said. “We poured a lot of water on this fire.”
Firefighters also rescued four cats, two of which were given oxygen by rescue personnel, Tallon said. “The two affected by smoke revived real well,” he said, adding that the cats’ owners “were all over them loving on them.”
All 36 units in the building sustained fire, smoke or water damage, and the American Red Cross and Douglas County Emergency Management Agency were working with the apartment management to find temporary housing for those families.
The cause of the fire had not been determined Saturday afternoon.
About the Author
