Sandy Springs apartment fire leaves residents from 10 units displaced

SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — An overnight fire at a Sandy Spring apartment complex has left dozens of residents in search of new homes.

Channel 2′s Steve Gehlbach was at the Overlook Apartments on Colquitt Drive, where fire investigators are still working at the scene.

Members of the Sandy Springs Fire Department have been talking to neighbors and working to find out the cause of the fire, with firefighters arriving on the scene just after 11 p.m. on Tuesday night.

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Investigators told Channel 2 Action News that the fire started on the top floor, possibly in a back bedroom.

When firefighters got there, they told Gehlbach they could see flames shooting from the building.

“I was woken up by the smoke detectors going off,” Margaret Reeves, a neighbor, said.

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Most residents heard the alarms and got out, but firefighters did knock on doors and helped a victim escape as smoke filled the breezeway.

“Just opened the door and started yelling for someone to help me get down the stairs,” Reeves said.

The fire department told Channel 2 Action News that the first crews got the complex in minutes and were able to keep the fire from spreading to more of the building.

“Got a call of a report on the top floor,” Div. Chief Jesse Bernard said. “Upon arrival, my crews found fire coming off of the corner here.”

The man who lived in the apartment where the fire started was injured and taken to the hospital. Firefighters said he suffered only minor burns and smoke inhalation, and had already gotten out of the burning building by the time they arrived.

“It’s terrifying,” Reeves said. “You do the fire drills and all the things in school, but as an adult, it’s still scary.”

The fire department is still working to get an exact count of how many people are now displaced from the 10 units that were affected.

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