DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Four members of a DeKalb County family died in a house fire. Two of the victims made it out initially, but went back inside for their relatives.
The fire happened overnight Thursday on Winthrop Drive. Channel 2 Action News This Morning was there as firefighters put out the flames.
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Witness Jovantay McCray said the house fire survivors were on the front lawn screaming out for help.
“They were trying to tell me like, ‘Come help them and come in and come save them,’” McCray told Channel 2’s Tyisha Fernandes.
McCray said he saw a father and son, Willie Smith and Joseph Thomas, make it out of the house fire. He said the two ran back into the burning home to save Willie’s sister and brother-in-law, Mary Ann and John Chambers.
“And they didn’t make it,” McCray said.
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Every neighbor who spoke to Fernandes said the Chambers lived in the home for over 30 years and were like the neighborhood parents.
At least seven family members made it out of the home safely. Two of them spoke to Fernandes over the phone in disbelief over the tragedy.
Fire officials are still trying to figure out the official cause of the fire. They have not ruled out that a space heater may have led to it.
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