By George Chidi
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Copyright 2007 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ATLANTA — Even as her house burned down around her, Abbey Jenkins didn’t want to drop her 1-year-old daughter, McKenzie, from a window.
But as the 17-year-old dangled her toddler from the second-story window Friday morning, she realized it was the only way to save the child’s life.
McKenzie fell into the arms of a neighbor in the Buford subdivision. Jenkins jumped a moment later to escape the fast-moving house fire.
Mother and daughter survived uninjured, as did five others who were in the house on Rocky Water Court.
But it was a close call, Jenkins said, standing in front of the charred ruins of her two-story, wood-frame home Friday afternoon.
A room above the garage had caught fire. Flames were spreading rapidly through the attic. Jenkins’ mother, brother and sister hustled from the house, along with a friend who had stayed the night.
Jenkins had stayed behind with her boyfriend, Alex Rogers, to collect McKenzie.
Jenkins’ family thought they had been sleeping in the room that caught fire, said Rogers, who lives in Oconee County.
“They thought we were dead,” he said.
With Rogers in front, Jenkins, clutching McKenzie, took a breath and stepped into a hallway on fire.
The fire forced her to stop, nearly burning her face and throat.
“If it’s burning me, I’m sure it would be burning her,” she said of McKenzie.
While Rogers, 19, felt his way down the stairs through the smoke, Jenkins backed up into the bedroom and closed the door.
Rogers realized when he reached the front door that Jenkins had not followed. Friends and neighbors kept him from running back inside, Rogers said. Instead, they ran into the backyard to a rear window.
Neighbors knew Jenkins had a baby, said Kevin Gatti, who lives down the street. He and brother Mike tried to get into the house to look for them, but the smoke was too thick to see, he said.
“You have a good flashlight, but you can’t see a thing,” he said.
Jenkins’ next-door neighbor, Mircha Dashkevich, broke a hole in the fence to get into the backyard. There, he discovered Jenkins at a second-story window, trying to get her child down safely.
“Abbey, please, please, let it go,” Dashkevich shouted to Jenkins. For a few agonizing moments, McKenzie dangled from Jenkins’ outstretched arm. Dashkevich was the only thing between the baby and the concrete patio.
“I was like, ‘No!’” Jenkins said. “I was seriously freaking out.”
She dropped McKenzie gingerly from about five feet up into Dashkevich’s arms.
Jenkins then jumped into the arms of her neighbors.
A moment later, the roof started to collapse.
Gwinnett firefighters were dispatched at 4:17 a.m. and had the fire under control an hour later, department spokesman Lt. Thomas Rutledge said.
Flames were shooting from the roof when they arrived, Rutledge said. Fire officials are still trying to determine the cause of the blaze but said it does not appear to be suspicious.
Along with the smoke alarm, Rutledge noted that Jenkins’ decision to close the door behind her before opening the window may have saved her life. Fresh oxygen from the open window might have drawn the fire into the room with the door open, he said.
Jenkins was thankful everyone survived uninjured. And she was glad to have good neighbors, she said.
“There are no words to thank them,” Jenkins said. “I think we have the best neighbors ever.”