Quick thinking by determined neighbors and years of firefighter training resulted in a dramatic late-night rescue Wednesday of a mother and her four children trapped behind burglar bars at a southwest Atlanta home, reports The Atlanta Journal Constitution.
The mother and three of her children remained in the burn unit at Grady Memorial Hospital on Thursday evening.
“I was just hearing little children saying, ‘Help! Help!'” said neighbor Kendarrious Chester, who was outside the home about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday. Chester told Channel 2 Action News he ran for help at his home two doors down.
“We just ran up the street and as we’re running up the street we could hear them hollering and screaming ‘Help,’ said Syreeta Chester, an aunt who has lived in the neighborhood for 30 years.
Chester’s nephew, brother and friend managed to remove burglar bars from the window to enter the burning, smoke-filled home.
They were able to help rescue Tamifonika Jones, 31, and her daughter Makiyah, 9, but three other children – two boys and a girl – remained trapped inside.
“He [nephew] kicked the door in and he tried to go in, and he came back out and said, ‘Auntie, I can’t go in there because there’s so much smoke’.”
When firefighters from Station No. 2 arrived, the fire was shooting out of the back of the house. Moments later, flames and black smoke burst out the front.
Capt. Chip Newell said firefighters faced a “worst-case scenario” of people trapped amid flames, no visibility and toxic smoke.
The children appeared to be in the back of the house, but trying to remove thick burglar bars from bedroom windows would waste too much precious time, he said at a news conference Thursday. “Seconds count,” Newell said.
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