Crews are battling a large apartment fire and trying to stop it from spreading in Douglas County.
Dozens of people are out of their homes at the apartment complex on Crossings Drive in Lithia Springs. Neighbors told Channel 2’s Steve Gehlbach that they beat on people’s doors to get them out.
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Gehlbach first reported on the fire during Channel 2 Action News This Morning starting at 4:30 a.m.
The flames burned the entire back of the building, but it started around 3 a.m. on the third floor of an apartment building.
A neighbor across the hall said she took the young couple’s two toddlers, put towels to their faces so they didn’t breathe in the smoke. They also tried using a fire extinguisher, but it was no use.
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Other neighbors started knocking on doors and everyone made it down the stairs and out. One victim was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation.
“I wake up and I’m inhaling smoke, like I can feel it in my chest and trying to figure out what is going on?” Beloved Dillard told Gehlbach. “When I open the door it’s complete darkness and then the smoke comes in and I’m totally engulfed.”
Firefighters helped neighbors go back inside when the fire was out so they could try to retrieve what they could. A total of 17 families are now displaced. The American Red Cross and complex management are offering help.