Smoke Detectors Save Family As Fire Guts Home Outside Of Kellyville

With the cold weather and people using fireplaces and heaters, firefighters are stressing how important it is for all of us to have working smoke detectors.

Smoke detectors are being credited with saving the lives of a family in Creek County when their home caught fire overnight.

It happened just off of Highway 33 West of Kellyville.

Firefighters from Kellyville and Sapulpa got the call about the house fire at about 3:30 a.m.

When they got there, flames were shooting from the house.

"Luckily, all the family got out and we praise the Lord for that," said neighbor, Pastor Jason Hutsell.

A couple and their three children, who were all sound asleep when the fire started, got out safely thanks to working smoke detectors.

"He told me he said he was lying asleep and his wife heard the detectors and got them up," Hutsell said.

Hutsell is the Pastor at Blue Bell Free Will Baptist Church, which is just down the road from the home, west of Kellyville.

As a good neighbor, the church is working to help replace some of the belongings lost in the fire.

"Anytime you see a family lose everything like that, it's just heartwrenching, heartbreaking," Hutsell said.

But Hutsell said it could have been even more tragic.

According to the National Fire Protection Association, 62 percent of fatal house fires nationwide happened in homes where there either weren't any smoke detectors or they weren't working.

In this fire, investigators are certain, the smoke detectors made a difference.

And Hutsell is thankful.

"We praise the Lord for that, that the detectors were working and they had them intact and was able to save everybody's lives," he said.

The cause hasn't been determined yet, but one possibility is it started in the fireplace chimney.

The family is staying with relatives.

Statistically, most house fires happen during the month of January, as the weather gets colder and more people heat their homes.