Oliver Latham was in his apartment singing along to karaoke with two friends during a birthday party April 17 when shouting outside interrupted the night.
At first, he thought a fight had broken out in front of his building at Chanticleer Apartments on 602 Park Circle. But when he stepped outside, the west side of his building was already engulfed in flames.
“You see house fires and stuff that’s so traumatic on TV, but just to witness it … the fire, it had a mind of its own,” Latham said, standing outside the remnants of his building. “It was so demonic. … I never expected it. … My first response was, ‘Where are the kids?’”
Upon stepping outside, 26-year-old Latham and his two friends sprinted to each unit, banging on doors to wake up residents and get them to safety. In the neighboring unit upstairs from his own, Latham knew a mother was sleeping with her young baby.
Through dark clouds of smoke and flames leaping nearer to the unit, Latham ran upstairs and barged his way into the home, scooping the baby blindly from her bed with the mother right behind him. Blinded by smoke, Latham felt his way through the apartment, carrying the baby and leading the mother outside to safety.
Moments after their escape, the ceiling caved in.
Latham said his faith carried him through the rescue, thinking back to the biblical story of the Fiery Furnace, in which three Hebrew men survive a blazing furnace guided by the son of God.
“In the moment, I was kind of terrified when I went up those stairs,” he told The Dispatch on Monday. “But I’m a believer. … I had in my mind, ‘God, you didn’t give me the spirit of fear. So I’m going to go up those stairs and do what I have to do.’ … I felt like I was in the fiery furnace and Jesus was in there, helping me get them up out of there.”
By the time Columbus Fire and Rescue arrived at about 11:30 p.m., everyone was out of the building safely. More than 17 firefighters worked for three hours to extinguish the flames, which impacted 16 units and stripped 43 residents, 14 of whom were children, of their homes and most of their belongings.
Latham had been living at Chanticleer for less than a year after moving out of his mother’s house when he lost nearly everything in the fire. It wasn’t until the next morning when reality hit.
“The stuff we worked so hard for, it was taken away from us and it wasn’t our fault,” he said. “It’s mentally challenging. You have to start over from scratch. … That materialistic stuff, yes, it hurt. …. But God is still good in the midst of whatever is going on. Everything that looks bad isn’t bad.”
Latham was rewarded for his bravery nearly a month later with a Certificate of Recognition, presented by CFR Chief Charles Yarbrough during the May 5 city council meeting at the Municipal Complex.
“He went above and beyond because a lot of times people … would not help and … just try to take care of themselves, but he did a great thing by making sure his neighbors and the people around him were protected as well,” Yarbrough told The Dispatch on Monday.
A Columbus native, Latham said his grandmother instilled in him such a devotion to his community.
“She was the type of person who would give her all to a stranger,” Latham said. “She was my biggest motivation, and she motivated me to be who I am today. She instilled a lot into us, her grandchildren, her children. She went above and beyond for everyone. When you are generous, … God honors that.
“… The same love I have for my nieces and nephews is the same love I have for other folks’ kids,” he added. “If my nieces and nephews were up in the building on fire, … I would expect someone to go up and get (them). At that moment, I thought, … ‘Forget me. That baby’s life and everybody else’s life is more important than mine. Let’s get them out. Let’s get them to safety.’”
During the council presentation, Yarbrough told Latham he hoped to see him apply for a firefighter position.
“If he did that … there’s no telling what he could end up being,” Yarbrough told The Dispatch.
Though Latham said he will go wherever “God leads,” he has never been sure of what his future holds. Latham graduated from Columbus High School in 2018 and earned his associate degree from East Mississippi Community College in 2022.
Though he has toyed with the idea of studying law or child psychology, Latham said he believes his true calling is simply to serve children and young adults.
“There’s a lot of us young adults that can help the youth come out of anything they’re going through,” he said. “… Grown people always say that the youth .. have a voice, but are y’all listening to the voice inside? There’s silence of what they’re going through that they can’t talk about, but can you feel it? Can you hear it? Can you see it? I want to be an advocate for those ones that don’t have a voice.”
While he plans to start on a nursing path at EMCC soon, Latham said his faith will lead him to the right path.
Ward 5 Councilman Gary Jefferson said Latham’s heroic rescue gave him hope for his community.
“When I heard of it, it just gave me a gut feeling on the inside that there’s still some … loving people that (are) willing to risk their life in Columbus… to go around and save other people,” Jefferson told The Dispatch on Monday. “(There are) some God fearing people in Columbus. You look at it sometimes and it’s like ‘Everybody is bad. There’s no hope.’ But there is hope as long as we got Christ.”
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 35 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
