CBS Atlanta 46Two families displaced in Northeast Atlanta apartment fire

An early Thursday morning apartment fire left one man with minor burns and nearly a dozen people homeless. Many of the victims were children.

The fire happened at the Edgewood Court Apartments in DeKalb County around two a.m.

Atlanta Battalion Chief Todd Parker blamed the fire on "careless smoking".

Vernee Smith said she woke up to the smell of smoke from the unit above hers'. She quickly ushered her three children outside just in time to see her neighbor running down the stairs with his newborn son.

"He was like,'get my baby, get my baby!' So I got his baby from him, and I got my kids and came on out," said Smith.

With the baby safe, the man was able to rush back inside and rescue his four other small children and his girlfriend. He sustained minor burns and was taken to Grady.

Everyone else escaped uninjured, and Smith said just in time.

"The next thing you know, the whole apartment caught on fire. The fire spread everywhere, like in two seconds the whole apartment was just gone," said Smith.

The Red Cross showed up to assist the victims.

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