Three Department of Parks and Recreation employees risked their own lives to save a 1-year-old from a burning duplex in northwest Atlanta early Tuesday morning.
Darrell McClendon, Cornell White and Michael Caldwell were driving through the area just before 8 a.m. when they noticed heavy smoke and flames coming from the residence in the 500 block of Hamilton E. Holmes Drive.
Rather than continue toward their destination, they pulled over to help, Caldwell said. The men heard a woman yelling that her 1-year-old son was still inside the home.
“I have five boys myself,” McClendon told AJC.com. “She said it’s a little baby in there so I definitely got to get in there.”
By the time firefighters got to the scene, the parks employees had already kicked in a door and rescued the 1-year-old and another woman.
Four people, including a man with critical injuries, were taken to a local hospital, Atlanta Fire Rescue spokesman Cortez Stafford said. One of the women suffered second- and third-degree burns and the other was stable. The condition of the 1-year-old was unknown, according to Stafford.
No other injuries were reported.
Authorities are not sure how the fire started. The cause remains under investigation.
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The parks employees don’t consider themselves heroes.
“We just did what had to be done,” McClendon said.
— Please return to AJC.com for updates.
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