Michelle Dean stood outside the charred shell of her Austell apartment building Friday morning, faced with the prospect of starting over after a devastating fire.
She had spent almost a decade building her life at the Lake Crossing Apartment Homes, and within minutes Thursday night, everything she owned was up in flames. The quick-moving fire spread from the bottom to the top of her two-story building, damaging all 20 units and displacing 59 people.
Dean said she made it out of her apartment with her cellphone, keys and the clothes on her back. A banging at her door alerted her to the danger, and she and her 31-year-old son fled for their lives.
“As I’m coming up the hallway, they are telling me to hurry up because the flames are coming,” Dean said.
Dean was primarily concerned for a neighbor with a baby, but she said everyone made it out of the building safely. While Cobb County officials have not confirmed what caused the fire, Dean said it appeared to have started outside around 11:15 p.m., when most of the Riverside Parkway community was sound asleep.
No one was injured, according to the fire department, and firefighters rescued at least one cat who climbed to the top of a fire-burned exterior wall. Crybaby the cat was returned to her tearful owners covered in ash but otherwise unscathed.
The complex was still bustling Friday morning with fire crews working to put out hot spots, disaster volunteers offering support and sleep-deprived residents waiting to learn what was next. Among those picking up the pieces was Trevor Moxey, who escaped his apartment with his wife and two teenage daughters but nothing else. The family had lived there for two years and did not have renter’s insurance.
“Damn. One day you had it, next day you don’t,” Moxey said, still in shock. “Through it all, you thank God for life. You can get it back.”
Volunteers with the American Red Cross were setting up temporary shelter at the nearby Collar Park Community Center on Joe Jenkins Boulevard. Diamond Sherie, who serves on the PTA at Bryant Elementary, said she was sent to the complex to offer support to its youngest residents when they didn’t show up for school.
Sherie was hoping to start a clothing drive.
“There’s 20 units and plenty of kids who live in this building,” she said. “There were babies. There were elderly.”
Given the extent of the damage, it was likely that many of the 59 residents would need to start from scratch. A bedroom set, a new PlayStation, an Apple watch and several computers were among the items Dean ticked off as she considered all she lost.
“But it’s all material stuff,” she said, surveying the damage. “Just by God’s grace, we’re OK. It’s going to be OK.”
