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" REST IN PEACE "THE JONES AND BUTLER FAMILY ************************************************************
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***************************************Mother, two children, fiance, uncle perish in flames
Fire officials deem Riverdale motel blaze suspiciousBy CRAIG SCHNEIDER
The Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionPublished on: 06/08/07
The family tried to buy as much time as possible.Falling debris from the early-morning blaze had trapped the mother, her three children, fiance and uncle in Room 210 at the Budget Inn in Riverdale.John Spink
(ENLARGE)
Clayton County firefighters battle the blaze at a Budget Inn in Riverdale. 'My boots melted,' one firefighter said.John Spink/Staff
(ENLARGE)
Firefighters from Clayton County and Riverdale secure the ruins of a Budget Inn on King Road near Ga. 85 gutted by a massive blaze Thursday morning.John Spink
(ENLARGE)
Motel residents Maurice Rosemond and his girlfriend, Tiffany Ellis, embrace as they grieve over the deaths of their neighbors.
So the family hunkered down in the bathroom. They put towels at the bottom of the door, got into the tub and turned on the shower.They used a cellphone to call for help."They were yelling, 'Y'all come get us. Tell 'em to come get us. The door's stuck. The door's stuck," said resident Erica Lovett, who overheard the call from the family to another resident. Lovett had fled the hotel with her two children.In the end, Shakita Jones, 32; her son, Devon Butler, about 11; her daughter, Desha Butler, about 10; her fiancé, Freddie Lee Colston Jr., 26; and her uncle, Melvin Jones, 43, died in the Thursday blaze, authorities said.Jones' 14-year-old daughter, Shavon Butler, survived the fire, but was in critical condition Thursday night at Grady Memorial Hospital. Six firefighters and three other residents of the hotel were injured in the blaze.Lovett said Colston and Jones had planned to marry in about a month. They were in the process of moving into a new place."I was helping them pack yesterday," she said Thursday. "It's crazy. You would never have thought yesterday that there would be something like this."Fire officials are investigating the cause of the blaze, which they have deemed suspicious. They suspect it started in one room, rose to the roof and quickly spread.Residents said they woke up to the smoke and people pounding on doors and yelling for people to get out.Riverdale Fire Chief Billy Hayes said firefighters worked hard to try to rescue the family. But the fire was too intense.The roof had collapsed and, at one point, a gas meter exploded, raining debris and almost trapping two firefighters, he said."We tried to get them," he said.Colston and Jones had been living for about a month at the motel, which charges about $50 a day, said Dewan Stokes, 26, a cousin of Colston.He said Colston had operated a pallet mover at a farmers market and was about to go into real estate. Colston and Jones were excited about getting married and moving into a new place, Stokes said."They were supposed to move this week, and we were supposed to get measured for tuxedos," he said.Jones' son Devon, was looking forward to finding out if he made the football team at Riverdale Middle School. Desha was the quiet child of the family, having been born with a heart problem. The other daughter, Shavon Butler, was looking forward to starting her first year of high school.Melvin Jones, the uncle, had recently arrived for a visit from Chicago and was helping the family move.Relatives of the couple gathered at the shell of the two-story, 40-unit motel on King Road near Ga. 85."An entire family gone," said Darrell Redmond, a cousin of Shakita Jones. "I just wish it would have never happened."State Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John Oxendine said the blaze apparently started on the second floor in the left rear section of the motel, in or near the room where the family was staying.It traveled up into the attic, then spread quickly through the motel, he said. Oxendine said the motel had been inspected last November but, because it is older, was not required to have a sprinkler system.Fire Chief Hayes said that, within 20 minutes of firefighters arriving at the motel, they declared the fire a three alarm and determined that about 20 people were trapped inside. Fire units from surrounding communities assisted, including Fairburn, Forest Park and Clayton County.Even as firefighters with water hoses fought to douse the flames, firefighters fought their way through the hot smoke and flames to rescue people. Several people broke windows to get out, he said.Riverdale firefighter Sterling Poole said he tried to rescue the family. He ran up the rear staircase and was burned by the flames."My pants caught on fire and my boots melted," he said, standing outside the motel.Firefighters worked for about an hour to put out the blaze, Hayes said.Afterward, the partially collapsed motel was a mess of charred steel beams, and hanging and fallen debris.Chief Hayes said he later found four motel rooms where the smoke alarm had been covered and that several rooms had portable cooking grills.The motel manager, Bobby Patel, said that, every few days, he has to talk to a resident who has covered a smoke alarm, knowing that smoking sets it off.He also said that a few weeks ago he ordered a tenant to remove a portable grill from the room."You cannot see behind every guest, see what they are doing," the manager said.Staff writers Mike Morris, Eric Sturgis, Kathy Jefcoats and Ty Tagami contributed to this article.Sponsored LinksWeather | Traffic | The Vent | Lottery | Puzzlesajc.com Archives Yellow PagesPersonalize with myajc.com | Get Mobile Access
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