ATLANTA — Editor's note: The video above is from previous coverage of the fire.
More than two people are dead following a house fire in southwest Atlanta, according to fire officials on Saturday.
It happened at a home along Willis Mill Road SW. Atlanta Fire Rescue Department officials said that they received a call around 12:12 a.m. regarding a house fire, adding that someone could be trapped inside.
When officials arrived, two residents told firefighters that people were still inside the home. Crews made their way into the home and pulled one woman out, performing CPR until Grady arrived for transport. Firefighters said an older man was also rescued from the home and taken to the hospital.
Fire officials said when crews searched the home a second time, a body was found in the front bedroom. Officials updated media around 1 p.m. that more than two people had died but have not given any other specifics.
A neighbor who lived next door said she knew the residents for over 50 years.
“I would take meals over there for her, her husband and her son because they were not able to take care of themselves," Kitty Whitfield said.
Whitfield added that one person who died in the fire had been suffering from a major health challenge for about 10 years.
“She was on oxygen and had lots of tanks all over the house lined up; 10 or 15 in the hallway and in her bedroom," Whitfield said. "They were exploding. I mean it sounded like cannons firing.”
Whitfield says watching the house where her friend lived go up in flames has shaken her and the rest of the neighborhood, adding that the woman she knew who died in the fire lived here with her husband—her son and her sister-in-law who had recently moved in.
“The explosion was so devastating," she said. "The constant explosion. Constant. Constant. Constant.”
In an update, the Fulton County Medical Examiner identified one of the victims as 66-year-old Janice Oneal. The other victim has not yet been identified, officials said.
According to the fire department, the cause of the incident is under investigation. No firefighters were hurt, and the house fire was exstingured.
