Two-Alarm Fire Leads To Evacuations At East Tulsa Apartment Complex

The Tulsa Fire Department had to call a second alarm to put out a fire at the Observation Point Apartments in the 4100 block of South 130 East Avenue early Monday. 

But one resident took initiative and ran door to door making sure everyone got our safely.

"I heard, ‘beep beep beep,' so then I looked outside and the apartment building next to me was ablaze. So I got my fire extinguisher and tried to pull that out," said resident Jeff Hogan.

But his fire extinguisher was no match, so he dropped it, picked up the phone and called 911. But his work wasn't done.

"Yeah, I yelled and beat on doors for about five minutes and finally everybody did get out. I made sure they were all out of the building."

Firefighters got the call just after 5:30 a.m. When they arrived they immediately called in a second alarm due to the strong winds and cold temperatures.

A second floor apartment was heavily damaged and two neighboring apartments on the same floor and an apartment on the first floor sustained smoke and water damage. 

Fire officials said the people living in the apartments all got out safely and there were no reports of any injuries.

Tulsa Fire Captain Stan May said, "There were flames showing from the apartment building and when crews arrived, residents were already self-evacuating, which helped us."

While crews are still investigating, they believe a cigarette may have started the fire.

"People really need to watch that right now. High winds, those cigarettes go anywhere and the wind will help ignite almost anything it comes up against," said May.

With high winds and fire danger, firefighters say this is another reminder for everyone to be careful. Hogan was glad the department made a quick response, "They were quick, right on the action. I was really surprised they got here that quick."

The Red Cross assisted residents who were evacuated.