Tulsa Man Happy To Be Alive After Apartment Fire

A Tulsa man said he feels lucky to have escaped a fast-moving fire that started on the patio of his apartment.

It took firefighters about 20 minutes to get the blaze under control. Two units received major damage and about five more had smoke damage.

Fortunately, everyone made it out alive. One person was taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation.

Adam Aven said he realized something was wrong around 11:30 a.m. Monday, July 31, 2017.

"I was in the kitchen cooking lunch and literally heard just a loud crackle noise," Aven said.

He looked around to see what it was and spotted a huge fire on his outdoor patio.

"It was already basically engulfed, the entire patio, that quick," he said. "Went lightning fast."

Aven said he grabbed his roommate's dog and ran outside. He said he wanted to run back inside to grab some necessities but there was no time.

"By that time, the entire living room, kitchen, entire apartment was fully engulfed," he said.

Aven said he's lost everything.

"Clothes and such aren't a big deal. I've got some things that my grandparents had passed down to me. Nothing valuable, but valuable to me of course," he said.

Aven said he feels fortunate to have made it out alive.

"Now I can see how easy it is to lose your life in a fire like this, how quick it happens. One wrong mistake, go into the wrong room to grab something and that could be it," he said.

Aven said this isn't the first time something like this has happened. He said his apartment suffered smoke damage in the last couple of months when his neighbor's apartment caught fire.

"There's fires all over this apartment complex, so, I don't know what's going on, but everything I own is gone," he said.

Captain Stan May with the Tulsa Fire Department said it is an old apartment complex but the complex hasn't been at fault for most of the recent fires.

"Most of those were occupancy driven. They weren't the fault of the building itself," May said.

He said the investigation is ongoing. No word yet on what started the fire or how much damage was caused.