ATLANTA — As residents of an Atlanta apartment complex that was severely damaged in a fire this weekend try to pick up pieces and figure out next steps, one mom shared her particularly difficult experience with 11Alive.
The fire at The Reserve at LaVista Walk apartments has displaced residents from dozens of units and incinerated the top floor of a building at the complex.
Judelyn Abuna said she was in a third floor unit with her daughter when she first noticed fire trucks arriving late Friday night. She called 911, trying to figure out what was going on and explaining the urgent situation with her 5-year-old daughter.
"I said can someone come here and help me, I'm upstairs in the third floor and I have my baby, she's on a ventilator, I have to carry her... and I have some medical equipment with me," she said.
Abuna explained that her daughter uses the ventilator due to lung problems. The other medical equipment had to be left behind in the rush out of the apartment, and on Monday Abuna was anxious to finally get back in to her unit and hopefully retrieve it.
The five-year-old girl was taken to the hospital and suffering from smoke inhalation, the mom explained.
"She already has breathing issues. She's not breathing by herself, she's breathing through the ventilator," Abuna said. "So this is scary."
Abuna has been trying to arrange for financial assistance with the Red Cross in the wake of the fire.
The was sparked by what police said might have been two people setting off fireworks. Both those suspects have been arrested.
Officials reported that an Atlanta Police Department officer was a resident at the complex and helped notify others to leave the building. He also has lost his home. Atlanta Police said 17 people were treated for smoke inhalation and other minor injuries, adding that one cat died in the fire.