CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — A fast-moving fire ripped through an apartment building at apartment homes in College Park Thursday, leaving a dozen residents searching for a new roof over their heads.
Clayton County Fire said they started getting 911 calls into their dispatch center just after 4 p.m. reporting a working fire inside the St. James Place apartment homes on the 5800 block of Riverdale Road.
Dedra Hampton who lived in a unit that was destroyed in the fire said everything happened so fast.
“I’m sitting there talking on my phone, as soon as I get off, I hear a boom and I was liked, 'what is that?'” Hampton said.
At about the same time, her neighbor and best friend Robin Christmas said she started to notice something wasn’t right.
“I could see the slivers of smoke coming out of the wall, and I said 'Oh my God something is burning in the wall,'" she recalled.
It was in a matter of seconds both women say the building went up in flames.
“I see the contractors who were fixing the apartment next to me take off running,” Hampton said.
The women said by the time they got across the parking lot fire was shooting from every end of the roof.
“The whole thing was engulfed in flames,” Christmas said.
11Alive was given several different videos from witnesses showing massive flames ripping through the apartment building. At least one nearby building suffered damage from the intense heat. Some of the sidings was melted on the building.
No one was hurt but firefighters say two dogs died in the fire.
In total, seven families were affected by the fire. The Red Cross was called out to the property to help assist the 15 people who lost their homes.
While no lives were lost, those who lived in the building lost everything.
“I lost pictures, my mama's ashes, everything I own is in that apartment," Hampton said. "Other than my purse and my phone, I have nothing."
Christmas lived in her apartment with her husband who is sick.
“My husband has cancer and we lost everything. I don’t know where I’m going,” she said.
The Fire Marshal was on scene Thursday afternoon. The cause of the fire has not been released as of Thursday night.