District attorney now reviewing fire that killed mother, 2 daughters

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — The Gwinnett County district attorney is now reviewing a fire that killed a mother and two daughters.

Danny Porter will decide whether the father, Brent Patterson, will face charges. He was the only person who survived the fire at the family's house on Pointer Ridge in February.

Porter says his team is now looking through the evidence and will soon decide what to do. The D.A. said he has no exact time frame.

“I don't think you can say at this point that there is no evidence of an intentionally set fire,” Porter said. “The speculation has gone on long enough, we have to make some decisions in this case.”

Patterson said he tried everything he could to save his family.

"I came downstairs, I opened the front door and it's like the place exploded. I tried to get back in -- it was too hot," Patterson told Channel 2's Tony Thomas. "I couldn't get back in because the fire came around and it came up the stairway. I did everything I could."

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Patterson and neighbors tried from the outside to get to the family, but the flames were too intense.

"Me and my neighbor, we got a shovel and we went and broke the back glass on the back door, and the heat was just so much, there was no way we could get back in," he said.

Crews tore down the house in July.

Cox Media Group