Food cooking on stove apparent cause of deadly
Athens, Georgia apartment fire
Updated Friday, January
2, 2015 - 9:42pm
Food left cooking on a stove was apparently the cause of
a deadly New Year’s Day apartment fire in the Nellie B community in east
Athens.
Tamaris Gene Meadows, 26, was found unconscious and
badly burned inside the apartment when firefighters responded to the blaze on
East Carver Drive that was reported at about 3:20 a.m. He was taken to Athens
Regional Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead.
Four families that included 22 people living in
adjoining apartments were displaced by the blaze, according to the Athens
Housing Authority. One firefighter reportedly suffered minor burns.
“Evidence leads us to believe that the point of origin
(of the fire) was the stove and cooking was involved,” said Kyle Hendrix,
assistant chief of operations for the Athens-Clarke County Fire and Emergency
Services Department.
Meadows, of Springtree Road, was said by officials to
have been a guest in the apartment where the fire began. The resident told
Athens-Clarke County police that she was asleep when she was wakened by screams
from downstairs where Meadows was found. Due to smoke that was rapidly filling
the dwelling, the woman told police she jumped to safety from a second-floor
window.
Firefighters found Meadows lying at the base of the
stairs inside the dwelling, police said.
The resident said that there was a third person in the
apartment prior to the fire, but that person left while she was sleeping,
according to police.
The fire was so intense that the first police officers
to arrive on the scene were unable to get past the apartment’s threshold when
checking on a report that people might be trapped inside. An officer wrote in
an incident report that a couch near the front door ignited from heat radiating
from the kitchen.
Hendrix said that a firefighter suffered minor burns to
his ears and fingertips due to heat penetrating his gloves and flame resistant
hood. He was treated at Athens Regional Medical Center and released Thursday
morning.
The apartment where the fire began suffered extensive
damage. All units in the building were damaged to differing extents by heat
smoke and water, displacing four families with a total of 22 people.
The Athens Housing Authority has placed three families
in area hotels and one family chose to stay with relatives.
Jane Smith, the agency’s director of finance, said that
word was underway to find new homes at housing authority properties.
“Every indication is that we will be able to accommodate
everybody within a reasonable amount of time,” she said.” “We are trying to
relocate as many people as we can within the Nellie B community to help smooth
their transition, but that’s not going to be possible for everybody.”
Volunteers with the East Georgia Chapter of the American
Red Cross responded to the fire scene, and the chapter is providing vouchers
for clothing and furniture. The housing authority will provide assistance
beyond short-term needs, in such areas as food and school or work supplies.
Anyone wishing to help the displaced families can call
the Athens Housing Authority at (706) 425-5300 and ask to speak with Director
of Resident Support Geraldine Clarke.
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Athens-Clarke County firefighters are investigating a
deadly New Year’s Day blaze in the Nellie B. apartment complex: a man was
killed and several apartment residents were displaced by the fire that broke
out early Thursday morning at the complex on Carver Drive. The victim has been
identified as Tamaris Meadows. He was 26 years old.
The Red Cross is helping a family in Barrow County,
displaced by a New Year’s Day fire in Statham. There were no injuries in the
fire, which gutted a two-story house on Doc McLocklin Road in Statham. There is
no word yet on the cause of the fire. Meantime, Hall County firefighters say a
family of 3 was burned out of their home Thursday: they are still looking to
find the cause of the blaze that burned a home in Lula. There were no injuries
in that fire.