GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Six people and a child are now displaced after a fire burned three homes shortly after noon on Christmas Eve.
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“I’m blessed to be alive, my boyfriend is alive, and my son is alive, we are blessed, but it’s a feeling I can’t describe,” Anissa Dallas, one of the homeowners said.
Dallas says the fire started in her attic. She says she was beginning to start cooking for Christmas dinner when she heard a knocking sound coming from out her back door.
“It was like they were hitting on something, and all of a sudden it got louder and louder and louder, and he went outside, and suddenly it was gone,” Dallas told Channel 2′s Michael Doudna.
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Dallas is an amputee and wheelchair-bound and says her son and boyfriend helped her escape from the fire.
“I thank my boyfriend because if he wasn’t here, it would have been a lot worse,” Dallas said. “My neighbors were hollering at the top of their lungs, ”Get out, get out”. By the time we got right there out the door, the whole roof was engulfed.”
Neighbors and Dallas say the fire moved quickly, spreading to two nearby homes, causing one to be unlivable and leaving the other with a burned side of the home.
Gwinnett County Fire and Emergency Services says the cause of the blaze is still under investigation.
For the families impacted, they lost many of their valuables. For Dallas, she lost the ashes of loved ones, along with medical equipment. However, despite what was lost, they say they are thankful to have made it out alive.
“I just say we are blessed, I’m going to thank God, and it’s still going to be a very merry Christmas because we have our lives,” Dallas said.
If you would like to help out the Dallas family, they have set up a GoFundMe.
Click here to donate.
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