COLLEGE PARK, Ga. — College Park firefighters are investigating the cause of a deadly fire that destroyed a home and killed a woman.
Channel 2’s Cory James was live on Lyle Road for WSB Tonight at 11 p.m. Crews just wrapped up for the night and spending nearly eight hours working on the home.
But it was a fast-moving fire that caught neighbors by surprise.
College Park fire says the fire broke out around 2 p.m. Saturday on the second floor of this two-story home.
Cell phone video captured thick flames ripping through a College Park home on Lyle Road.
Irma Levenson told James she was at a neighbor’s home for a kid’s party when the fire erupted.
“The kids go, ‘I smell something.’ As we turn around we’re like, ‘Yeah I smell something too,’ and then I turn around and the smoke coming out and look back and the house was engulfed in fire,” she said.
Firefighters said it was fully engulfed when they arrived about five minutes after the initial 911 call.
Two women lived in the home. Officials say one got out, but the other did not survive.
“The challenge that we faced tonight was that we were unsure where to find the victim, so we had to an initial search and rescue to attempt under heavy smoke conditions,” said Ron Taylor of College Park fire.
It’s a tragedy that Levenson says hits close to home in this close-knit community, a community she says is praying for the family now facing unimaginable grief nearly two weeks before christmas.
“They were sisters. They were two ladies. One was bedridden. It’s just very, very sad. It’s heartbreaking, it really is,” she said.
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