WHY APARTMENT THAT BURNED WAS SET TO CLOSE

Property is slated for new school; 19 residents were displaced.

A massive fire tore through part of a DeKalb County apartment building and displaced 19 people Tuesday, weeks before a deadline for residents to move out of the complex.

Just before 1 a.m., crews were called to the Shallowford Gardens Apartments in the 3600 block of

Shallowford Road, where they found heavy smoke and flames coming from the center of a 12-unit building on the property, DeKalb fire Capt. Eric Jackson said.

The DeKalb County School District purchased the 104-unit complex last month to build a new elementary school to alleviate overcrowding in the Cross Keys cluster of schools. Dozens of families were told they had until the end of August to find new housing.

Five families lived in the building affected by Tuesday’s fire, Jackson said. When firefighters got to the scene, they went door to door to make sure there were no residents trapped inside. One of the families was away on vacation when the blaze happened, Jackson said.

“Of course, our first concern was life-saving,” he said. “So we wanted to make sure that everyone was out of the building.”

Then, firefighters started fighting the blaze on the second floor.

“However, there was a lot of

fire that was rolling above our heads,” Jackson said.

That, coupled with structural instability of a second-floor balcony, forced crews back downstairs and out of the building, Jackson said.

At that point, firefighters started fighting the blaze from outside and above the building.

“We dumped a lot of water on the rooftop of this fire,” Jackson said, “because the fire had essentially run from one end of the building to the other.”

Crews knocked out most of the blaze and went inside the building to continue extinguishing it. The intensity of the fire again forced crews to exit the building, Jackson said.

The American Red Cross of Georgia is working to provide the displaced residents food, clothing and shelter, agency spokeswoman Sherry Nicholson said.

Sofia Salazar, her father, Enrique Salazar, and four other family members were among the displaced. They lived on the floor below the fire and were awakened by a knock on their door from a neighbor warning them of the blaze, Sofia Salazar said.

She immediately called 911 and ran upstairs to knock on the doors of neighbors, she said.

“My father ran over to the unit that was on fire and broke the window with a metal bat and kicked the door open,” Sofia Salazar said.

He started extinguishing the fire until authorities arrived, she said.

The Salazar family is set to move out of Shallowford Gardens today. Now, they are trying to see what belongings, if any, can be salvaged from the fire, Sofia Salazar said.

Investigators are working to determine the cause and origin of the fire.

“At this point,” Jackson said, “we have not ruled this fire suspicious in nature or intentionally set.”

JOHN SPINK PHOTOS / JSPINK@AJC.COM Early Tuesday, firefighters battled a blaze on the second floor of an apartment building. The fire displaced 19 people, weeks before a deadline for residents to move out to make way for a new school building. Crews were called to the Shallowford Gardens Apartments before 1 a.m.

Enrique, Elizabeth and Sofia Salazar (from left) watch what remains of their apartment. In June, the DeKalb County School District bought the 104-unit complex as part of a plan to build a new elementary school in the Cross Keys cluster of schools.

CHAD RHYM / CHAD.RHYM@AJC.COM Battalion Chief DeJuan Gilchrist and Captain Angi Eubanks discuss the complication at hand Tuesday. The American Red Cross of Georgia provided displaced residents food, clothing and shelter, an agency spokeswoman said.