TULSA, Okla. — The Tulsa Fire department (TFD) said 33 apartments were damaged in a fire Friday night near 41st and Peoria.
Saturday morning cars lined the neighborhood as people worked to salvage anything they could from the Village at Brookside apartments.
“You don’t ever expect it happen to you and it happened to me,” said first grade teacher Elyce Harris.
Harris said she was home when the fire started.
“I was home, I happened to be asleep, something told me to wake up, woke up, heard my neighbors yelling, opened the door and you could smell it already it was a fire,” Harris said.
Harris said she grabbed her dog and ran out of her apartment. What she saw was unbelievable.
“It’s a scary situation, I’m glad I was out but just watching it engulf in flames and all you see is orange and heat,” Harris said.
Saturday morning, Harris was able to see the damage and grab a few small things from her apartment. She said she mostly has water damage.
“I was one of the lucky ones because my neighbors above me they’ve lost everything,” Harris said.
Tulsa Fire Department
On Friday night, FOX23 spoke to Andy Little with TFD at the scene of the fire. He said it was a very significant incident.
“We have 11 engines, four ladder trucks, two district chiefs, an air and light unit, a rehab unit and an EMS officer, this incident, actually they had to split into two separate command posts, one on one side and one on the other, just due to the size of it so they could effectively manage that,” Little said.
Tulsa Fire Department
Little said when they got there three buildings in the complex were on fire. One building lost its entire roof.
“Especially when a building is already to that development stage of fire, when it’s that significant, the roof is already on fire, you’ve got heavy flames that can easily spread to other buildings,” Little said.
Thankfully, everyone made it out okay.
We’re working to learn how the fire started and we’ll let you know as soon as we get any new information.
