Firefighters: Girl dies after being pulled from DeKalb County creek

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. (FOX 5 Atlanta) - Rescue crews in DeKalb County said the little girl who was pulled from a creek near an apartment complex Thursday afternoon has died.

The 911 call of a possible drowning came in a little after 4:30 p.m. When first responders arrived, a family member told them the 6-year-old girl fell into a creek behind an apartment complex on Athena Lane in Dekalb County. 

Police Officers were the first on the scene.  When they heard there was a child in the water they immediately jumped in and began looking for her. Firefighters pulled up a couple of minutes later and joined the search. 

"We allowed those crews to stay until the cold was too much them, then we swapped them out," said Dekalb County Fire Captain Dion Bentley. 

The dive team was called in.  They looked above and below the surface of the murky water.   The search was extensive.  The child was in the icy water for just over an hour before she was found. 

"She was found at the deepest point of the creek, about 6 feet deep, where she slipped in the water," said Capt. Bentley.

As the little girl was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance, fire crews packed up their gear and thought about the child. 

"It's tough, we had a lot of guys searching for the little girl and praying we'd find her," said Bentley. 

It wasn't until a few hours later the crews learned the child died at the hospital.  Officials are not releasing any names.