Community Rallies, Helps Tulsa Brothers After Apartment Fire

A Tulsa family is being hit two-fold by an apartment fire. Two brothers living in the same complex, both lost their homes last Thursday when a fire broke out in their building.

Now, the community is coming together to support them.

A dozen homes at the 4100 Apartments are gone after the fire a week ago.

2/6/2014 Related Story: Tulsa Firefighters Battle Midtown Apartment Fire, Bitter Cold

In a time when you'd normally rely on family, the Arnett brothers are being forced to turn to the community for help.

Iraq War veteran and new father Anthony Arnett isn't one to ask for help, but that changed last week when an early morning kitchen fire at his Midtown Tulsa apartment complex destroyed 12 units.

"It seemed like it only took like a minute for it to spread all the way over there and it just happened real quick," Anthony said.

His little brother Travis was living next door when he smelled smoke and jumped into action, saving elderly neighbors, before knocking on his own brother's door.

"He was banging on people's doors and running through. Thank God he was up, up at that time he was. He really stepped up and made me proud. I feel bad for picking on him all those years now," laughed Anthony.

Anthony's war medals are among the few things that survived the fire. And now his friends are stepping in to help replace everything else.

"He's one of those guys that, literally, would give you the shirt off his back," said Anthony's friend Clay Cooley.

Another friend, Donnie Rich, said, "I have a family myself and I couldn't imagine this happening to me."

The two friends are hosting a benefit Saturday for the Arnett brothers.

Anthony and Travis's dad, Wayne Arnett, said his sons would usually lean on each other, but this time, they can't.

"It actually multiplies because both of them have lost everything, so it's kind of doubled for them," Wayne said.

Anthony's family needs everything from diapers to furniture, not just for the three of them, but also for the little one on the way.

"Night before we found out that we were pregnant, so we're going through like mixed emotions right now." Anthony said. "Not only do we have to buy for a new baby, we have a 10-month-old daughter now."

Anthony's friends are hosting a benefit to help the brothers rebuild. It is Saturday at the Tulsa Shrine off 18 and Boston from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. They're even auctioning off a guitar signed by country music star Brad Paisley.

There is also a bank account set up for donations at Arvest, it's called the Anthony Arnett Family Fund.