Children Rescued From Fiery Blaze By Gwinnett Officers

DULUTH, GA — Gwinnett Police Officers carried children to safety and evacuated residents at an early morning apartment fire Dec. 1 at the Park at Sweetwater Apartments in Duluth.

Officers Conner Buckley and Austin Goehrig responded to the apartment fire at the Park at Sweetwater Apartments located at 3400 Sweetwater Road in unincorporated Duluth. When they arrived, they found that the mail center, which is attached to an apartment building, was on fire. The fire was spreading quickly into the apartment building as flames were 30 to 40 feet high. Both officers ran toward the building to start evacuating it.

By the time the officers reached the building, the blaze had spread into the resident areas. Officers split up and started banging on doors to try and wake the sleeping occupants.

(For more news like this, sign up for Patch real-time email alerts for the latest news in Duluth — or other neighborhoods. Access Patch on the go with our iPhone app or our brand new app for Android phone users.)

As the fire continued to spread, the officers continued to evacuate the occupants by helping people find their way out and helping carry children out of the smoke filled areas.

The Gwinnett County Fire Department arrived on scene and began putting the fire out.

Sgt. Justin Richey, the officers' supervisor, said, “Because of the quick actions of both Officer Buckley and Officer Goehrig, everyone made it out of the building and no casualties were reported.”

The Red Cross was dispatched to help with the placement of the evacuated residents.

Officer Conner Buckley was hired on June 5, 2017 and graduated from the 99th Police Academy on January 4, 2018. Officer Austin Goehrig was hired on December 11, 2017 and graduated from the 100th Police Academy on July 12, 2018.

Photos courtesy Gwinnett County Police Department