Man rushes in, pulls baby to safety from burning East Point apartment
EAST POINT, Ga. - Ricardo Tolbert says he saw something and acted Wednesday when flames started shooting out of one of the buildings at the Polaris East Point Apartments, formerly Brookfield Apartments on Washington Road in East Point.
"It was just chaos yesterday," he said. "When I got up to the top of the stairs where the actual fire was, I beat on both doors and I hollered get out, get out fire, fire."
Tolbert, also known as ‘Uncle Top’ in the complex says when he did not get an answer, he broke in.
"I saw the baby's arm and I reached and grabbed it and pulled her up out of there and handed her to the lady that was coming out from next door," he said. "Hand her the baby, and then I reached in there and unlocked the door and went in."
Tolbert says once in, he turned around because of the smoke and the heat. He then says he tried to make two more attempts, but the fire was already raging at that point, but he says he was able to help people in other units.
EAST POINT APARTMENT FIRE CLAIMS LIFE OF LITTLE GIRL, INJURES ANOTHER
Residents describe trying to save little girl from apartment fire
Residents of the Brookfield Apartments in East Point say they could only save one of the two little girls who live inside an apartment that caught fire the day before Thanksgiving. Officials say their mother remains missing and possibly in the rubble of the now destroyed building.
East Point firefighters and investigators spent Thanksgiving going through the apartment building that left a little girl dead and another injured at the hospital.
Tolbert says he is glad he acted, but the loss hurts.
"I also have been beating myself up about why I didn't come out the door 20 minutes earlier, and I probably could have saved both of them," he said.
Ricardo Tolbert says he saw something and acted Wednesday when flames started shooting out of one of the buildings at the Polaris East Point Apartments,
Tolbert says he did not know the family personally, but he has seen them around the complex. He says the two little girls were twin 4-year-old sisters and they were the ones he was thinking about Wednesday.
"The only thing in my mind was ‘get them babies out of there’," Tolbert said. "Get them out of there, that's what I was thinking about. I wasn't thinking about the building being on fire, I was thinking about the babies."
The fire destroyed multiple units and some residents came back Thursday in hopes of finding anything left.
A look at the damage left from the deadly fire at Polaris East Point Apartments.
Erica Jones has a lot to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving when some momentos survived the fire. She was able to find family photos and a crystal picture of her son who died in 2014 when fire investigators walked her through her unit.
"My little picture book with all my pictures in it," she said. "I did get some memories back."
Erica Jones says she was able to save some mementos, including photos and her license after the fire destroyed her apartment.
Jones even found some cash and her license.
This fire while tragic is giving her a reason to be thankful since her son who was home at the time survived and for what she has left because one of her neighbors lost her life.
Some of the photos Erica Jones was able to recover after the fire. She says she's thankful that her son got out unharmed.
"Sometimes what you lose God gives it back to you double fold," Jones said. "So I got to be grateful for that, we are still here."