COWETA COUNTY, Ga. — At least six people have died after a fire destroyed a home in Coweta County. Five others are hospitalized.
NewsChopper 2 flew over the scene in the 1300 block of Macedonia Road, where there is a large fire department and EMS response.
The Coweta County Coroner’s Office confirmed to Channel 2 Action News that six people died from their injuries. Their names have not been released, but their ages range from 6-years-old to 74-years-old.
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The fire department first got a call about the fire at 4:57 a.m. The first firefighters arrived nine minutes later and saw at least half of the house was on fire.
Crews knocked down the fire and started search and rescue for the 11 people who lived inside the house. Six victims died at the scene. Five others were rushed to Grady Memorial Hospital. Some of their injuries have been described as “serious.”
One firefighter is being treated for minor injuries.
Pleasant Hill Baptist Church Pastor Buddy Waldron knew the family who lived in the home. He told Channel 2′s Veronica Griffin that the victims who died were grandparents and young children.
“The family has been generous and kind. Not wealthy, I don’t mean that, just giving of themselves. Being friends, friendly kind,” Waldron said.
Waldron said two of the fire victims taken to the hospital are the parents of the children who died.
Coweta County’s coroner could only confirm the ages and genders of those killed, saying three boys ages 6, 12 and 13 were among the dead as well as two women ages 36 and 74 and a 74-year-old man. Officials also can’t confirm the ages and names of the survivors.
They were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, some with serious injuries. Their conditions haven’t been released.
Channel 2′s Bryan Mims talked to Ryan McMillan, who was visiting his brother-and-law just down the street from where the fire broke out.
“I heard, ‘Pop! Pop!’ which I initially thought was gunshots,” McMillan said. “So I got quiet for a minute, hung on, heard two more. Then after that, I heard cries for help.”
McMillan told his brother-in-law to call 911 and both men ran towards the flames.
“When we got to the front of the door, the place was so engulfed, we couldn’t have went back in.”
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McMillan described seeing five people, a man and woman and three young children, in the front yard.
“They were in pretty bad shape, covered in soot,” McMillan said.
Mims also spoke with Erik Swindlehurst, who brought his 4-year-old daughter, Abigail, to place flowers at the home’s mailbox. He said one of the women killed in the fire was once his daughter’s pre-school teacher. They called her “Katie B.”
“It’s hard to cope with such a tragedy like this,” he said. “Katie B was a very caring woman. She really cared about her kids and her family, and she loved kids.”
The family has set up a GoFundMe to help the surviving family members.
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