Survivors of deadly fire at Memphis assisted living facility praise MFD heroics

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Fire survivors praised the Memphis Fire Department (MFD) for heroic work that reduced the death toll in an assisted living apartment complex in the Raleigh community.

While survivors and neighbors’ expressed grief for the person who died, one survivor told FOX13 she’s grateful to God for her escape from the smoke-filled building Saturday night, allowing her to see another day.

“I feel blessed for that,” Northlake resident Delois Adams said, with tears streaming down her cheeks. “Yes, you know ’cause it’s like they say: things can be replaced, but you can’t be replaced. So I thank God. I do.”

MFD reported its personnel on scene on Epworth Road led 20 people from the building, carrying five of them physically.

Memphis Firefighters Association President Thomas Malone told FOX13 rescuing senior citizens requires extra care.

“You can’t just grab up people, you know, that are real old,” Malone said. “You have to take certain precautions with them. It’s not like grabbing somebody and just getting them out. These people, you can do damage to them just by how you handle them.”

Northlake resident Ethel Burton said the responding firefighters are heroes.

“They put their life on the line, but they do a really good job,” Burton said Burton.

Her neighbor, Annie Pryor, agreed.

“It was so many trucks,” she said. “And I said I had never in my whole life seen so many fire department, but those men’s were really working to get those people out of there.”

Management told FOX13 that it was trying to help people in 22 apartments who were displaced. The Red Cross is also helping them. Neither the name of the person who died in the fire, nor the cause of the blaze has been released.

This article was originally published by FOX13.