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Duluth family devastated after apartment fire
A devastating fire gutted an apartment complex in Gwinnett County last week. Two sisters had to jump from their second-floor balcony to escape the flames. Those two sisters lost nearly everything in the fire. The community is doing what it does best in times of tragedy by lending a helping hand.
DULUTH, Ga. - In what feels like a constant cycle, Cassie and Jane Kim are left to once again deal with loss after their apartment of a month-and-a-half caught fire on November 11.
"Once you start to settle down and things are kind of normal and maybe your luck is turning around, something like this happens," Cassie and Jane said.
The two sisters and a boyfriend escaped the unit at Montrose Berkeley Lake Apartments in Duluth by jumping from their second-floor balcony. The fall left Cassie with a brain bleed and in an arm sling. Jane is in a back brace.
"I think the initial shock of everything like when we first fell the wind just got knocked out of us," the sisters said. "I remember just crawling on the street to lean up on a car to catch our breath."
Gwinnett County firefighters say the blaze started in another unit's kitchen, but quickly spread. Ten apartments were damaged or destroyed.
The Kims were some of the unluckiest, losing everything including memories of their mother and father who died from medical issues when they were teens.
Cassie and Jane Kim
Cassie and Jane were orphaned as teens after losing both of their parents in the last decade.
"A lot of our parents' things were in that fire and just like clothes that we still had of our parents are all destroyed now," Cassie and Jane said.
The fire also took one of their cats, but four others survived.
With just days till Thanksgiving, they are thankful for what they do have, each other, and the help from the community.
"I think things like this really give us hope for people, how good they can be. We really didn't expect all of this support. It has been amazing," they said.
Cassie and Jane said they have renters' insurance, but it will not cover everything.
A GoFundMe was created Wednesday afternoon and more than $8,000 has already been raised.