SOUTH FULTON, Ga. — A devastating house fire at a two-story home Wednesday morning has left four people dead in the City of South Fulton, authorities confirmed. They said it happened at a home on Oswego Trail just before 5 a.m.
Two bodies were found in the debris Wednesday. Thursday, officials said they recovered the last two bodies that were missing and unaccounted for at the scene. Earlier in the day, family members told 11Alive they believed a 7-year-old girl and her grandmother were the remaining victims. The girl's father identified the child as Hailey Harris.
In the Thursday evening update, Lt. Eric Jackson of South Fulton Fire said a woman and a girl were found upstairs. However, officials have not released the names or ages of any of the victims at this time.
“Through all the digging and through all the combing through of all the debris and almost eight hours later, we have located the last remaining two victims or individuals of this fire.”
Jackson said the identities of the four victims will come from the Fulton County Medical examiner’s office. The process, he said, would be lengthy due to the extended verification that will be needed to confirm their identities.
Here are the other details we know about the fire.
- There was a total of 12 people inside of the house at the time of the fire.
- Five people were taken via ambulance to Grady Memorial Hospital, but are currently in stable condition.
- Two more people drove themselves to the hospital.
- One person walked away from the fire and did not go to the hospital.
- Two people, one man and one woman, were pronounced dead Wednesday after previously being unaccounted for.
- Firefighters sifted through the unstable structure in order to find the victims. They put the search on pause Wednesday night until daybreak Thursday due to safety reasons.
- Two people, a woman and a child were found Thursday upstairs.
- South Fulton crews enlisted help from other agencies, including from Atlanta, Sandy Springs, and the State Fire Marshal's Office.
- A cadaver dog was also brought to the scene Thursday to help with the search.
- There will be an extended period of time for investigators to determine the cause of the fire.
Wednesday, Jackson said the floors were burned out, the staircases were gone and the back side of the house was almost completely erased. The fire department previously said that the roof of the building started to cave in.
"Looking at it from the back side, (the house) is all sunken in, it's all fallen in," he said. "So, really hampering our efforts for our firefighters to really get in there and start to determine exactly where its cause and origin (were), where might this fire have occurred."
After the remaining victims were discovered Thursday, Jackson said this was a difficult scene for the crews to work.
“It’s a mental picture that stays there, it doesn’t go away," he said.
Jackson said fire investigators will remain on the scene to determine how the fire started.