Displaced N.W. Oklahoma City Apartment Residents Angry

By Jennifer Pierce, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Oklahoma City Fire Department is calling an early morning fire at Ridge View Apartments suspicious.

Seventeen people were displaced, including Zola Jones. She was awake and watching her two grandchildren when the fire broke out. Jones said she smelled smoke, grabbed the children and ran outside.

"My daughter smelled smoke and said ‘Momma I smell smoke.' So we went through the house and looked and the whole hallway and kitchen was full of smoke, so by the time we tried to go, the whole building was in flames," Jones said.

Jones said she witnessed a neighbor and her 14-month-old baby escape from a second story window.

"We had fire from one end of the breezeway to the other," said Oklahoma City Fire Deputy Chief Cecil Clay. "We had crews attacking the fire in the breezeway trying to knock it down."

Every resident made it out, even the pets.

"My friend called and told me and said ‘I think your building is on fire.' I said ‘You sure it's my building?' He said ‘Yeah' and I came running over here," said Dee Dee Littlejohn. "That was my world in there."

DeeDee Littlejohn and her four children were staying somewhere else, but had everything in the apartment packed. She was planning to move from the apartments at Wilshire Boulevard and Lyrewood Lane Monday.

Residents think someone intentionally set the fire. "It makes me mad because it puts other folks' lives in danger," Jones said.

The fire department is asking anyone with information about the fire to call investigators. They say it looks suspicious because of how fast it spread.

The fire destroyed eight units in all and most likely started on the second floor.