(patch.com) – Firefighters rescued an elderly person from a fire Wednesday by forcing the door and carrying the person down the stairs to safety.
On Feb. 27, at 7:30 a.m., firefighters responded to a resident’s report of an apartment fire on the 400th block of Eagle Tiff Drive NE in Buford. The caller to 911 stated that everything was on fire.
Neighbors told fire crews that an elderly person with limited mobility was still inside of the townhome to the right of the fire unit. After knocks on the door were not responded to, crews forced entry. The elderly patient was attempting to get into a mechanical stairlift to get down to the first floor. Firefighters carried the elderly patient out of the unit as it was beginning to fill with smoke.
According to firefighters, the unit was completely gutted. The adjacent unit had minor smoke damage noted on the top floors.
Crews arrived to find a working fire on a three-story townhome with flames coming out of the garage located on the front of the structure. Smoke alarms inside of the residence alerted the occupants and they had already evacuated the fire unit. Due to the size of the blaze and the speed with which it was spreading, firefighters deployed a large hose line to begin their attack. A walk around the structure revealed that the fire had already moved up to the first and second floors. Two fire attack hose lines were deployed to get the fire extinguished.
Paramedics on scene evaluated one patient from the fire unit with minor complaints. The patient was transported, non-emergent, to the hospital for further evaluation.
