Fire Destroys Apartment at Tulsa Complex

Fire investigators are looking into a fire that destroyed a Tulsa apartment near 71st and Lewis Thursday morning.

Firefighters said they were able to put out the fire at the Village Creek at 67th quickly, but not before a dog died. The woman living there was not at home.

The fire department says someone spotted the fire in the upstairs apartment just before 7:15 a.m., called 911, then began knocking on doors to notify residents in the complex.  

Firefighters reported seeing smoke coming from the complex when they first arrived.

Witnesses told News On 6, they heard popping sounds which turned out to be a fire.  Another family says they were awaken by firefighters knocking on their door.

"We were in there sleeping; we heard a bunch of beating on the doors saying, 'fire, fire get out of there,'" said Kimberly Williams, resident.

"So I was like, let me get my grandbabies and get out of here. What's going on? I came out and there's just a blaze of smoke and everything," she said. "We could have just like suffocated with all the smoke."

District Chief John Steiner say the apartment is a complete loss and there is probably smoke and water damage to several apartments next door and below.

He says a woman who lives in the apartment wasn't home at the time.

Steiner says firefighters had to get up into the apartment's attic to keep the fire from spreading, which they did successfully.  He says investigators are working to determine the cause of the fire. 

Chris Manning, neighbor, said he saw the firefighters carry the woman's deceased dog out of the apartment.

"It was just a scary feeling to walk out the door and seeing an apartment on fire - being that close to your home."