Sifting through ashes, Clayton County apartment fire victims praying for help

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. - Residents of a Clayton County apartment complex spent their Thanksgiving Day rummaging through the ashes left behind by a massive fire at the building Wednesday afternoon. 

Tracie Patton says everything she worked for went up in flames. The fire destroyed an entire building inside the Park at London apartment complex in Ellenwood.

"My kids didn’t even have no shoes on," Patton told FOX 5. "They didn’t even have a chance to go get their shoes."

Fire crews responded around 1 p.m. Wednesday to reports of heavy smoke and flames pouring out of the building.

Patton says she was at work when she got the call that the building was on fire from a friend watching her two daughters, ages 4 and 8.

"They like basically barely, almost got out," she said.

Firefighters at the scene of an apartment fire in Clayton County on Nov. 23, 2022. (FOX 5 Atlanta)

MAN RUSHES INTO BURNING APARTMENT, PULLS BABY TO SAFETY

That friend, Harvey Jackson, says within seconds of getting to out the door, the floor of the apartment caved in.

"It was a weight drop that I felt that made the stairs move and we immediately kind of rushed toward the exit," Jackson told FOX 5.

Patton says she’s grateful her children survived, but she’s devastated that they lost everything.

"It’s a lot. My kids don't have any clothes and on top of that all the stores are closed today," Patton said. "I never expected this to happen."

The mother of two says she received about $500 from the Red Cross, but that may only sustain them for a few days and to make matters even worse, she did not have renter’s insurance.

While she and her children are staying with a friend, she says she’s created a GoFundMe and prays someone may be able to help.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.