Fire tears through Douglasville apartments, injuring 3

DOUGLASVILLE, Ga. - A fire tore through a Douglas County apartment building Wednesday afternoon, injuring three people and leaving many looking for a new place to stay.

"I saw all this smoke, people saying there's a fire, I see a girl jumping out the window," said Danielle Lemiex.

Lemiex grabbed her three sons and ran out of her apartment. She and others then ran back inside to help their neighbors.

"The kids play together; we're all like family. We all stay here; we have to come out together," said Lemiex.

The blaze at the Douglasville Proper Apartments on Chicago Avenue broke out just before 3 p.m. and spread quickly.

"Once this all got going with the wind, it kind of fed itself," said Douglas County Fire Chief Miles Allen.

There were no firewalls and no sprinkler system. More than 60 firefighters worked hard to keep it from spreading to other buildings.

Chief Allen says from the start they encountered problems.

"We had a few issues with water supply; the hydrants in the area didn't have enough pressure," said Chief Allen.

They had to use a fire hydrant across the street, a couple of hundred yards away.

Chief Allen says eight units were occupied. Two adults and a child were injured and had to be rushed to the hospital.

"When I opened the door, the smoke just engulfed me; it was so intense it felt like it touched the bottom of my stomach," said Latonya Green, another resident.

Green says there were six people in her apartment. Some of her kids jumped off the balcony to escape the flames.

There was no time to grab anything.

"We lost everything, everything," said Green.

Roubens Paul, who lived in the building as a child, now runs a non-profit, forthekidsga.com, and is trying to help the residents rebuild their lives.

"I imagine a lot of people in this community are already struggling, so the fact that they're now starting at ground zero means they're going to need a lot," said Paul.

Paul has set up a GoFundMe for the families.