Atlanta fire displaces apartment residents
Roughly two days after a massive fire erupted at a northeast Atlanta apartment complex, some displaced residents struggled to retrieve their items and said they want more transparency from the apartment management and property owners. And others are just trying to wrestle with the grief and sadness that come with losing belongings — and a home.
Some residents, many of whom did not want their names used, returned home to get their items Sunday. Several said sprinklers didn’t go off at the time of the fire and that the fire alarms regularly go off at the complex. So when they heard the alarms Friday night, they did not know whether to evacuate or to stay put.
“That’s why they said no one felt like the fire was real because the fire alarms are always going off, so it’s always a false alarm. It’s just always going off,” said Kelesey Arthur.
Arthur is a resident at Reserve at LaVista Walk apartments, where a three-alarm fired raged Friday night. Residents were able to evacuate the building Friday, but 17 people were treated for smoke inhalation and minor injuries, according to officials. Atlanta police said Saturday that the first may have started due to fireworks being lit on the rooftop of the four-story building. Two people have been arrested in connection with the fire: Robert Stokes, 42, and Charnelle Gunn, 24. They were charged with criminal damage to property and reckless conduct.
The complex is on LaVista Road, near the intersection of Cheshire Bridge Road.
Many residents are displaced, but the exact number is not known. Arthur is one of them. Since the fire, she has stayed with friends. She tried to get her belongings Sunday, but said she was told she couldn’t enter because the site is now a hazard.
“I was on the way home from a party, and was trying to figure out what happened,” Arthur said about the fire Friday night. “I didn’t know it was that bad at first. I was hearing there was a fire, but I didn’t know the whole building was falling down, so I’m coming from Gwinnett.”
“I don’t think it’s necessarily registering because I’m trying to figure out what to do. I think it’s going to hit me after the fact.”
Arthur has lived in the complex for three years and said management at the complex has changed a few times.
“It’s been problems and stuff like that, but it was still home,” Arthur said.
“I’m trying not to feel at all,” said a resident named Ty, who did not want her last name used because of the stress she has been through. “I’m ok for now. I’m trying to stay calm. It’s hard, but you can’t really do nothing about it because you gotta not try to make a big thing out of things you can’t control.”
Kait, 22, said she lives there with her boyfriend and 5-month-old daughter. She’s been staying at her boyfriend’s parents’ home.
She said it’s been the second time the fire alarms have gone off in two weeks.
“We didn’t think anything of it, so I waited like ten minutes and then I ran over to the balcony on the second floor by the garage and then I yelled down, ‘Is there a real fire,’ and they were like, ‘Yeah, get out. Get out. Get out.’”
Calls to Avenium, the company that managed the property, were not returned. It is unclear when residents will be able to get back into their apartments.