Brother rushed to rescue woman from townhome fire but couldn’t get to her in time

Investigators are trying to figure out how a deadly townhome fire started in DeKalb County.

Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes learned the victim’s brother tried to rescue her but couldn’t get to her in time.

Family friends identified the woman who died as 62-year-old Gajuan Sanders. She died on Monday when a fire broke out at the townhome she shared with her brother on Chupp Road.

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“They said she was in there screaming when the brother was trying to get her out,” neighbor Ieshia Osias told Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes .

Osias wasn’t home Monday when the fire started, but got a call from her mother.

“So I hurried up and called and they said that the neighbor’s house is on fire. And she was still in there,” she said.

Other neighbors told Fernandes that Sanders’ brother had soot all over his face and some burns from trying to rescue her. When firefighters arrived, they said Sanders died from smoke inhalation.

“My mom said she had a fan in the window and we don’t know if it’s electrical or not because the fire was coming through the window,” Osias said.

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Captain Jaeson Daniels told Fernandes that it appears that the fire started upstairs.

The official cause though has not been determined yet.

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