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The Official Legal Organ of DeKafb County, GA. Serving East Atlanta, Avondale Estates, Brookhaven, Ciiambiee, Clarks ton, Decatur, Doraville, Dunwoody, Lithonia, Pine Lake, Tucker and Stone Mountain.
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SECTION A: VOL 25 NO. 42
APRIL 14-20,2016
500
Apartment fire safety is concern for officials
by Andrew Cauthen
andrew@dekalbchamp.com
E very 2.5 days there is an
apartment fire in DeKalb County.
And fire officials say apartment
fire safety is the concern of
residents and apartment managers alike.
So far in 2016 there have been
40 apartment fires, such as the one at
Hidden Villas Apartment in Panthersville
on Jan. 27 when DeKalb County Fire
Rescue received a call at 4:05 a.m.
“We got there and there was smoke
and fire showing,” said Capt. Eric
Jackson, DeKalb County Fire Rescue’s
public information officer.
Several people had to jump from
the building to escape the fire that
was coming out of the front part of the
apartments and had taken over the
hallways on the first and second floors,
Jackson said.
“Four residents were transported
to the hospital for treatment and...as
a result of this fire, there were at least
eight apartments that were affected,”
Jackson said.
Atownhome fire on Feb. 22 in
Lithonia ended in tragedy with the death
of an occupant.
When firefighters responded to the
4:46 a.m. fire, a “person was in the front
room...on the floor,” Jackson said. “We
made entry to extinguish the fire, noticed
he was there, [and] brought him out.”
The man was transported by
ambulance to nearby DeKalb Medical
Hillandale “where he was subsequently
and unfortunately pronounced deceased,”
Jackson said.
Although no cause of the fire has
been determined, “we were looking at the
kitchen very heavily,” Jackson said.
Two days earlier on Feb. 19
there was a large fire at the Marq at
Brookhaven, located at 50 Lincoln Court
in Brookhaven that damaged 36 units.
“[When] we went to that fire initially
we were responding to a possible stove
on fire,” Jackson said about the 11:35
a.m. “We actually could see a column of
smoke prior to our arrival coming from
that building.
See Fire on Page 5A
For the past five years, apartment fires have occurred at a rate of one
every 2.5 days in DeKalb County. Photo by Travis Hudgons
Greenhaven proponents ponder next steps
Kathryn Rice, chairwoman of Concerned Citizens for Cityhood of South DeKalb,
said residents want a chance to vote on cityhood. Photo by Andrew Cauthen
by Andrew Cauthen
andrew@dekalbchamp.com
P roponents of the proposed
south DeKalb city of
Greenhaven want to be
in the same position as
another proposed city: Greenhaven
supporters want the opportunity to
vote on cityhood.
“Stonecrest is doing something
that we want to do,” said Tom
Walton, a board member of
Concerned Citizens for Cityhood of
South DeKalb (CCCSD). “They’re
going to have a vote. The citizens
are going to vote to decide if
they want to have a city called
Stonecrest. And that’s what we were
asking the legislators for.”
Walton’s comments were
during an April 5 meeting hosted
by CCCSD about the future of
Greenhaven, after a bill that would
have given residents the opportunity
to vote on cityhood got stuck in the
Georgia General Assembly.
After meeting on April 2, CCCSD
board members “will be forming a
team to look at where we go from
here,” said board member Sandy
Johnson. “We will be continuing to
look at what our options are. There
are some things that we may want
to do differently going forward.”
The proposed city of
Greenhaven would have
approximately 295,000 residents,
making it the state’s second largest
city. It would surround Clarkston,
Pine Lake and Stone Mountain, and
its borders would touch Lithonia and
the proposed city of Stonecrest.
Greenhaven would have a
See Greenhaven on Page 5A
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