Cigarette Smoking Blamed For Tulsa Apartment Fire

By Dee Duren, NewsOn6.com

TULSA, OK -- Fire broke out in the Pepper Tree Apartment Complex Saturday morning at 7725 S. Yale. Multiple fire trucks and the Red Cross responded to the scene. Two units were completely destroyed in the blaze which firefighters say was caused by smoking.

One firefighter was transported from the scene to an area hospital due to tightness in the chest. Another man, his face grimed with soot, was treated at the scene with oxygen.

Witness Brian McCullough, who lives in a neighboring condo complex, said he watched from his balcony a few minutes after 8 a.m. as the fire burned the balcony and exterior wall of an apartment.

“It took only a few minutes for the fire to engulf the entire place,” he said.

“When I was standing on my balcony, I heard someone yelling, ‘Help, help,’ in the residence next door to the apartment,” he said.  “I heard the firefighters say, ‘Is someone in there,’ and I didn’t see them pull anyone out but I heard they helped some guy get out of there.”

McCullough said the Tulsa Fire Department was quick to respond, getting on scene in three to four minutes.

“They tore off the back balcony and started poking ventilation holes in the apartment next door,” he said. “The smoke in the sky was crazy.”

Tulsa Red Cross dispatched a team to offer aid in the apartment complex fire at about 8:45 a.m.

Tulsa firefighters report that four units in all were damaged in the fire. They estimate damages at about $200,000.