ATLANTA — Two people are dead after a fire ripped through northwest Atlanta's Bankhead-Bolton neighborhood on Saturday morning, Atlanta Fire Rescue said.
Firefighters were dispatched just after 8:30 a.m. to a call of a structure fire in the 900-block of Bolton Road NW. When they arrived, they said they found a heavy blaze at a one-story single-family home along the road.
Atlanta Fire said they made an "aggressive, defensive fire attack" in order to put out the massive flames. That is when firefighters found two people dead inside the home.
The first victim was found in the front room on the right side of the home while the second victim was discovered in the front room on the left side, according to fire officials.
Atlanta Gas Light said there was a gas leak in the front yard of the home.
Odeisha Coates lives next door and said she was not aware of the fire until rescue crews knocked on her door.
"I would say about 9:30-ish. My doorbell started to go off, and that's when I observed that the entire fire team of police officers was in front of my house," Coates said.
She told 11Alive's Karys Belger there was an elderly woman she would occasionally see coming and going from the home. At the time, she was not told if anyone was inside the house.
"It's devastating because we -- me and my family just recently moved in this area," she said.
Coates explained the firefighters wanted her to leave her home for a period of time due to safety reasons.
"The fire department is asking me and my family to leave because they still can smell gas and they are not really sure where or what's happening and they want to make sure everybody's safe," she said.
The Fulton County Medical Examiner said on Sunday that it would be some time before the bodies would be identified. In an update on Tuesday, Atlanta Police said the Fulton County Medical Examiner ruled the cause of death a homicide for one of the people killed.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, Atlanta Fire and Rescue said.
