Clayton County

Firefighters save woman from burning home

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — A local woman is hailing Clayton County firefighters after they saved her from her burning home.

Flames and thick smoke quickly spread through the house, trapping Nicole Ramey in her bathroom.

In his 34 years as a firefighter in East Point, Ramey’s husband William has never seen the devastation of a house fire from this perspective.

“Like everybody else, you're always thinking, 'It will never happen to me,'” William Ramey said.

But his home on Blackfoot Trail in Clayton County was ravaged by a fire Friday that also nearly claimed his wife, Nicole.

She works as a paramedic and firefighters say her quick thinking saved her life after she awoke to the smell of smoke.


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"She said the door didn't feel hot, so she opened the door and she was hit in the face with a wall of smoke and heat and she closed it back and grabbed the pups, put them in the bathtub and covered them up with towels and herself," William Ramey told Channel 2’s Carl Willis.

She was unable to escape, but called 911 and shut two doors between herself and the fire, buying herself just enough time.

"When our firefighters were inside trying to locate her, they did actually hear her screaming for help and then once they made it to her, she was no longer responsive. They rescued her through that front window,” Clayton County Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief Laura Richardson said.

They rescued the dogs, too, giving them oxygen on scene.

Richardson told Willis the firefighters knew exactly what they needed to do to overcome this challenging rescue.

"They were aggressive. They didn't hesitate with anything,” Richardson told Willis.

There's not much of the home that wasn't impacted by the fire and the effort to put it out, but Nicole made it out.

"Luckily, she wasn't burned but (suffered) a lot smoke inhalation,” sister-in-law Renee Blizzard said.

"I'm glad she's still here with me,” William Ramey told Willis.

Firefighters are still working to determine the cause of the fire.