UNION CITY, Ga. — People living in a metro Atlanta apartment building say they had just seconds to escape with their lives after it caught fire.
Last month, the Netherley Park Apartments on Buffington Road in Union City caught fire and burned to the ground.
Channel 2’s Eryn Rogers spoke with some of the people who survived the fire, but lost their home.
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“I said, ‘We got get out of here, we’re trapped. There’s a fire,” said the property’s courtesy officer, Donneshia Hendricks. “As soon as I opened the front door, flames came straight to my face. It singed my lashes.”
Hendricks said she her fiancé had seconds to get out, and didn’t even have clothes when they escaped.
“We woke up with nothing on. We didn’t have time to put anything on,” her fiancé, Dashonti Wiley, said.
The couple survived, but lost their three dogs.
Others who lived in the other nine units say they were in a similar situation.
“I had to rush to grab my children, and jump from the third floor,” said Ericka Smith.
Smith says her daughter broke her hip falling.
Another person recorded a video of neighbors trying to catch the people jumping.
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“I feel like it could’ve been avoided if we would have heard a fire alarm,” Smith said.
Rogers called the property managers who said that because the complex was built in the 1980s, it is not required to have fire alarms.
The fire marshal confirmed that the building was built to code, but if the property rebuilds, they will need to install the alarms.
“The fire was so bad, they ran out of water. They tried using the fire extinguishers here, but there was no water pressure,” Hendricks said.
The incident report that Rogers obtained from the fire department confirmed that the fire hydrants did not have suitable water pressure.
“It burned so fast like it was paper,” Hendricks said.
The fire marshal says the cause of the fire is still under investigation.
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