Nursing Home Fire Leaves 1 Dead, 2 Injured

Updated Tuesday, March 26  at 4:07 p.m.

A man whose father is a resident at Meadowbrook spoke to reporters outside the building this afternoon. "When I heard about it, it was a shock to me," said Steve Chek. His father has Alzheimer's Disease and lives on the second floor, near where the fire broke out. "He's doing fine. He's all right," said Chek. 

Original article:

A fire at a Tucker nursing home on Tuesday morning caused the death of an elderly resident and injured two others, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The DeKalb Medical Examiner’s office has identified the woman killed as Laura Barrett, 64, who had apparently been smoking in bed while on oxygen.

Firefighters arrived on the scene around 3 a.m. for the two-alarm blaze at the Meadowbrook Nursing Home on Lawrenceville Highway, which houses 128 residents.

Many were evacuated to the chilly parking lot from the second floor, where the fire started, and then to the first floor. “We were fortunate that the first floor was safe so that we could move them in this cold weather and keep them inside,” said DeKalb fire Chief Edward O’Brien.

The names of the injured victims have not yet been made public.