Berryhill Fire Department Saves Businesses From Fire

A fire burned dangerously close to businesses in west Tulsa on Thursday, damaging some equipment and forcing some business owners to evacuate.

Flames scorched an entire area off West 21st Street, getting just a few hundred feet from the buildings.

The fire burned close to 50 acres.

“I looked around the corner of my building, and that whole thing was on fire and black smoke and here came the Berryhill Fire Department,” Chuck Osborne said.

Osborne owns a design business, and he eventually was asked to leave.

“The Berryhill fire chief came by and said if I had someplace to go, I probably oughta go,” Osborne said. “Because they couldn't, it was all behind the shop and going up that side of that mountain and they couldn't really control it at that point… There's a time for caution, so yeah, I took off.”

Just next door at American Glass, employees saw the flames surrounding their business around the same time so they jumped into action.

“Everybody was watering down our equipment and materials and stored materials and anything that was wood was being moved,” John Dawson said. “There was smoke and small fires pretty much 180 degrees from here."

Employees with Triangle Construction were moving a backhoe away from burning debris as firefighters tried to contain the flames nearing their business.

Berryhill FD said the flames destroyed at least two abandoned homes and an abandoned mobile homes, as well as some heavy machinery owned by a construction company before it finally stopped just short of the businesses.

“It was just a crazy day,” Dawson said.

While some debris still smolders off west 21st Street, firefighters say they aren't concerned about the fire rekindling.