Crews responding to a massive blaze at American Legion Post 207 in DeKalb County found the building empty Wednesday morning, but one firefighter still made a daring save.
An American flag was found untouched in the veterans’ meeting room and was saved before the building was fully engulfed in flames, Channel 2 Action News reported. The post’s American Legion centennial flag was also saved.
It took crews two hours to get the fire under control at the building on Pine Valley Road near Tucker, according to the news station. When they arrived on scene just before 4 a.m., they were met with challenges.
A tin roof made it difficult to get to the flames inside, DeKalb County fire Capt. Dion Bentley told Channel 2 from the scene.
“We also had burglar bars, which are great for keeping criminals out,” he said. “But as far as interior firefighter activity, we had to remove those burglar bars before we could really advance our hose lines inside."
They were still putting out hot spots at 6:30 a.m., the news station reported. Most of the building had completely collapsed.
Anthony Mathis, the post’s commander, told Channel 2 he was grateful the flags were saved. He was at the lodge Wednesday afternoon to raise the flags outside the charred building.
“These guys are great. They are our community heroes,” Mathis said. “Any extra effort, or any effort at all, we as a legion, as legionnaires, as veterans greatly, greatly appreciate it.”
— Please return to AJC.com for updates.
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