Fire Destroys Apartments Near Piedmont Park

Several apartments near Piedmont Park were destroyed early Monday morning when a large fire broke out just before 2 a.m.

A car sitting in a carport on Dickson Place, between 11th and 12th streets, caught fire around 1:45 a.m., according to notes from the 911 call. The flames soon spread, destroying a nearby duplex and damaging several apartments at a three-story complex next door.

"I'd never seen anything like it," said Midtown resident Daisy Marquette who lives on 12th Street. Marquette witnessed the fire and took several videos with her smartphone.

She said the smoke from the fire was billowing up almost to the height of a nearby high-rise.

"We were scared it was going to catch our building on fire," Marquette said.

No one was injured in the fire. But at least three animals were killed in the blaze.

Grant Park resident Rosa Feroza Syed was on the scene at about 9 a.m. to help her close friend who lived in the duplex.

Syed said the man had gone out with friends around midnight, leaving his three dogs in the house. "By chance, he had just left," she said.

Syed helped firefighters remove the bodies of the dogs from the burnt residence before her friend returned to the scene.

Firefighters told WSB-TV that at least five families were displaced because of the incident.