Woman Injured After Jumping From Sixth Floor Apartment Fire In Tulsa

NewsOn6.com

TULSA, Oklahoma -- A woman is recovering in a Tulsa hospital after police say she jumped from a burning sixth floor apartment she allegedly started herself.

Emergency crews responded to the fire at Hewgley Terrace Apartments at 4th and Lawton downtown Tulsa Thursday night.

Police said the initial call went out as a stabbing after 40-year-old Christine Echohawk allegedly stabbed another man.

Officers were chasing Echohawk when she ran into her apartment and set it on fire. When firefighters tried to go inside, they saw her jump out the sixth floor window.

Police say when Echohawk jumped she landed on grass and, surprisingly, suffered very little injuries...the worst being a collapsed lung.

Echohawk is in the hospital and will eventually be booked into jail.

"It's a very strange thing and I don't know why she did all that, obviously someone's not thinking straight to go and do all that but the why behind it, only she knows," said Terrace resident Andrea Peters.

The man she's believed to have stabbed was treated and released from a hospital, but 17 police officers were treated for smoke inhalation and 5 were taken to a hospital.

They have since been released and TPD expects them to be fine.

The building was evacuated, but residents were allowed back inside a short time later.

"When they told us this wasn't a drill, we knew it was real, so everybody just got their clothes on and came on down and got out," Sandy, a resident, said.

Firefighters said the fire was contained to one apartment.

Police say the man who was stabbed is not cooperating with investigators so they expect the only charges the woman will face, once she's released from the hospital, will be for arson.