ATLANTA — An apartment fire over the weekend left several families with nowhere to go.
Atlanta Fire Rescue responded to the complex on Landrum Drive on Saturday night, working to put out the flames and save people trapped inside.
Firefighters are used to saving people and pets from fires. But on Monday, they were working on a different type of rescue.
Channel 2’s Steve Gehlbach was at the complex, where firefighters searched to find the ashes of a loved one from one of the families whose homes were burned.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
Channel 2 Action News first learned firefighters would be back on scene during Channel 2 Action News at 4:30 a.m.
At the apartments on Landrum, one family was thanking firefighters for recovering one victim’s mother’s ashes from the building.
The victim was one of those who were trapped inside and had to be pulled from a second floor balcony, but wasn’t able to save her mother’s ashes during the fire.
TRENDING STORIES:
- Woman faces more than 400 counts after allegedly defrauding metro Atlanta private school
- Former officer sentenced in hit-and-run that killed 27-year-old on I-75/85
- Man caught following woman, exposing himself around metro Atlanta Walmart
A friend of the victim helped Atlanta firefighters find the remains, with an engine and ladder crew going back up to the second floor.
Monday morning, a call went out and firefighters answered, digging their way through blackened rubble to find the metal urn.
“We were able to move some debris and it wasn’t where we initially thought,” one firefighter said.
But after an hour of searching, they found the urn, to the relief of family friend Joe Moore.
For the fire victim, getting the earn back was a reprieve.
“There’s stuff in there that’s just irreplaceable,” one victim said.
Those searching were also grateful, telling Gehlbach that the job of a firefighter doesn’t always end in the best resolutions.
“Very heartwarming, to have a loss already with the fire and to have a loved one and memory of them, not be able to put your hands or eyes on it, it’s devastating,” Capt. Dana Mayo said.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation but Atlanta Fire Rescue confirmed to Channel 2 Action News that multiple fire hydrants inside the complex were not working.
The department said those hydrants did not belong to the city but the building owners and are supposed to be maintained by the property owner.
Channel 2’s Courtney Francisco, who was on the scene the night of the fire, and Gehlbach reached out multiple times for answers from the property managers but were told they had no response and said it was the owner’s responsibility.
Now, the American Red Cross is helping connect victims from the fire with resources to recover. The organization said 16 units were completely destroyed, but thankfully no one was injured or killed.
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]