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Fire destroys empty Atlanta home on Irwin Street
Fire investigators are working to find out what caused an abandoned home on Atlanta's Irwin Street to go up in flames early Thursday morning.
ATLANTA - A fire destroyed an abandoned home in Atlanta's Sweet Auburn neighborhood early Thursday morning.
Atlanta fire crews arrived at the scene on the 300 block of Irwin Street NE around 6 a.m. to find heavy flames covering the house. Crews worked to extinguish the blaze, but the home was destroyed.
Officials say the home is vacant. At this time, the area is too hot to search to see if anyone is inside the building.
The fire spread to the home next door. The people inside say they were awoken by the flames and were able to escape in time.
"It was very warm - very hot - all of the sudden. We looked outside our window and saw the vinyl on the side of the home melting," neighbor Uzo Okafor said. "It was an inferno."
Okafor told FOX 5 that there have been a number of homeless people seen squatting in the house.
At this time investigators have not determined the cause of the blaze.