Fire Destroys Broken Arrow Home

By Emory Bryan, News On 6

BROKEN ARROW, OK -- A Broken Arrow family escaped a house fire with nothing but their lives on Monday.

A teenage son smelled smoke and woke up everyone else.

The fire happened on the south side of Broken Arrow.

Fire filled the two-story home at the entrance to a subdivision.

The fire department arrived to find flames coming out of the roof.

A slight wind pushed fire through the rest of the home and the cold didn't help the battle.

"The biggest challenge is the freezing, our hose lines and trucks freezing up," said Ben Thomas of the Broken Arrow Fire Department.

The family huddled across the street in blankets and watched their home burn.

The father tried to put out the fire and was slightly burned, but no one else was hurt.

Firefighters worked for hours, but all that was saved was a smoldering ruin.

The fire marshal can't say yet for sure why the fire started, but they know where, on the back side.  Firefighters say once it got into the attic, there was no stopping it.

"By the time 10 minutes had passed the home was beyond saving," said Chris Coon.

Coon lives next door and was amazed at how quickly the home burned.

"The roof had caught on fire; the flames were probably 150 feet in the air.  Pieces of flaming debris were coming over and landing in our yards, so the neighbors formed a perimeter to keep that from spreading and we watched the fireman go to work," said Coon.

The teenager who discovered the fire said a couch in the living room was in flames, but how it started is unknown.

"We don't want to point to Christmas trees or lights; that will be determined by the fire marshal's office," said Thomas.