Families Deal With Aftermath Of Fire

More than two dozen families are still homeless after their apartment building was destroyed by fire.  Tulsa firefighters say parts of the building could have been protected if it had firewalls.  The fire was discovered about 9 o'clock Monday morning at the Lakeside Place Apartments near 21^st and Memorial.  News On 6 anchor Scott Thompson reports on why the building was not required to have firewalls.

Investigators say it took a matter of seconds for a grease fire on someone's stove to tear through an apartment building.  One day later, residents are wondering why it happened so fast.

In all, 28 families called the apartment building home.

"I got out with just what I was wearing, no shoes.  No nothing," said resident Nancy Armstrong.

More than 24 hours after it was ravaged by fire, Tulsans like Nancy Armstrong are struggling to put their lives back together.

"Some of my clothes, a kitchen table," said Nancy Armstrong.

Investigators say the fire started in a unit on the bottom floor. A charred skillet is believed to be the flashpoint.

"It had some kind of a cooking fuel, like a grease, and off it went," said Tulsa Fire Captain Michael Baker.

The fire shot towards the roof into what investigators call voids, empty space inside the building. The view from SkyNews 6 shows what happened next as the fire took off and destroyed the entire building. But, some of the damage could have been avoided investigators say, if the building had firewalls.

"The absolute best firewall is going to be made out of masonry.  It's going to have some thickness to it, and it's going to be designed to hold fire and prevent it from spreading in a large building, especially an apartment complex to another," said Tulsa Fire Captain Michael Baker.

Captain Baker has been unable to determine the exact date when this apartment complex was built, but says it was before firewalls were required by city code in the 1970's. He says today's code is much more strict, besides firewalls, it also calls for sprinkler systems.

"Anything over two stories in an apartment building or a multi-family dwelling like this would require a fire sprinkler. So, some of the three story apartment complexes are completely sprinkled throughout," said Tulsa Fire Captain Michael Baker.

Residents say their concern is trying to figure out what to do next.

"I seriously don't know. Red Cross has set us up at the Ramada for a couple of days, but I don't know what we do after that," said resident D-Anna Garmendez.

The Red Cross says it's spent $12,000 to help the 28 displaced families and is in need of more donations.