“That Was My Best Friend, I’m Going to Miss Them”: Neighbor Escapes Burning Home Through Window that Takes Lives of Mother, Daughters

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – The neighbor to the woman who lost her life in the duplex fire Thursday morning says she did everything she could to get out alive. 

Teresa Walker says Jeniffer Caffee and her three daughters were like family. 

Walker, who has an amputated leg, jumped through a window in her apartment to get out of the burning building. 

Macon-Bibb Fire Chief Marvin Riggins held a news conference to talk about the fire.

His crew is narrowing down where the fire began and says the attic is a strong possibility.

He also made a point to say everyone should have working smoke detectors in their home, stating that there were signs the smoke detectors didn’t work inside of the duplex.

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41NBC has learned the names of the people inside a duplex that caught fire early Thursday morning.

Jennifer Caffee, 36, along with three minors Elizabeth Caffee, Wendy Chapman, and Holly Tucker have been confirmed dead according to Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones.

Two teens in the house, Brandon Caffee and Scott Caffee are in the Medical Center of Central Georgia.

Another man James Tucker is at the Burn Center in Augusta.

Stay with 41NBC for the very latest on this developing story.

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Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones has confirmed four people have died in an early Thursday morning house fire in south Bibb County.

The fire began around 2:00a.m. in Macon’s Peach Orchard Community, which is close to the Lynmore Estates Neighborhood.

The fire started inside a duplex on the corner of Carmen Place and San Carlos Drive. One of the fatalities is a 5-year-old. Jones said three other bodies are still inside one of the apartments, and firefighters are having a tough time getting to the other apartment to look for more bodies due to the heat.

“At this point in time, we don’t know the exact number of people that {was} in the apartment at the time of the fire. And they want to make sure that on one is overlooked. That’s the reason they’re doing a complete grid search, and searching for more bodies,” Jones said.

Those severely injured in the fire are being treated at Augusta’s Burn Center and at the Medical Center of Central Georgia.

We’re following this story closely and will have more information as it becomes available.