Apartment fire kills 3, residents picking up pieces

SMYRNA, Ga. — Two people are in critical condition after a fire destroyed an apartment building Monday morning. The fire killed two children and their mother.

Channel 2 Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell was live in Smyrna for Channel 2 Action News at 5:00.

She spoke with a woman who knows the victims. One woman lost three family members.

“She can’t stop crying. it’s so sad for her, too. So sad, you know, it’s like, two babies, two babies, and the mom passed away, so sad,” said Tchalda Jean, a friend of the woman.

The deceased were among six family members who lived in the unit where the fire started, the Cobb County Fire Department said.

“The apartment where the fire started our crews found and removed five people and then they immediately began lifesaving efforts. A sixth person in that apartment jumped off the balcony and was injured,” said Lt. Stephen Bennett of Cobb County Fire Department.

Firefighters battled the flames while another crew rescued half a dozen people.

Other firefighters performed CPR on people who went into cardiac arrest.

“I started to feel the heat, and I just immediately screamed for my grandmother and my son to hurry up, ‘We have to go, fire, fire.’ I ran out with no shoes, no jacket,” said Arianna Hazel-Applegate, who lives above the unit that caught fire.

She escaped with her family and dog. Her great grandmother’s urn is destroyed.

“I feel so sad for my grandmother because I know that that really hurts her, and I don’t think it’s also hit me that we lost both of our cats that we’ve had for so long. There’s so much things in our home that are irreplaceable,” Hazel-Applegate said.