Families 'lose everything' in massive apartment fire

ATLANTA, Ga. — Northeast Atlanta residents say they're thankful to be alive but they're heartbroken after losing everything in a midtown apartment fire, which took 65 firefighters to put out Friday night.

Seven units were destroyed at the Chalet Apartments on Inwood Circle just after 6 p.m.

Drivers on I-85 and Buford Connector first spotted the flames and called 911.

Channel 2 Action News crews arrived just as firefighters arrived and could see fire shooting out of the upstairs apartment.

Firefighters raced to roll out fire hoses and bring in ladders to get water on the fire. All nine people inside made it out unharmed.

A neighbor next to the unit where the fire started said he saw the elderly man who lived there get out just in time.

"He was already outside on his hands and knees trying to breathe, and I just opened up doors and windows and tried to shoo my cats out best I could," Dan Carter told Channel 2 Action News.

Those cats did make it out, but one dog in another apartment was killed. Investigators are working to determine the exact cause of the fire, but said the man in the unit where the fire started was smoking and there were a number of oxygen tanks inside.

The American Red Cross is helping six of the residents with food and a place to stay for the weekend. One of them is a student from Iran, who is in the U.S. for a couple months.

WSBTV