Two injured in Tulsa apartment fire

A 4-year-old boy learns an important lesson about playing with fire after a couple almost dies in a blaze he started. <br><br>News on Six reporter Patrina Adger talks with the hero who saved the day.

Sunday, August 18th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

A 4-year-old boy learns an important lesson about playing with fire after a couple almost dies in a blaze he started.

News on Six reporter Patrina Adger talks with the hero who saved the day. The smoke is still seeping from a roof after a fire at the Somerset Apartments in south Tulsa. A toddler was playing with a cigarette lighter in the living room; he was able to get out without injury. Tulsa firefighter Joe LaFleur: â€œThe mother was in the bedroom. She opened the door and noticed smoke coming from the living room and got her and her child out."

But it almost proved deadly for a husband and wife in the unit below. They were trapped in their smoke-filled apartment. "I heard the crash of something breaking. I looked out the window and saw a flare of flames and both window and I advised my kids to get out quickly." That's when Ronald Holley says he saw a woman hanging from a window desperately trying to escape.

And without thinking Holley says he ran outside to pull the woman and her husband to safety. "The lady was unconscious when we pulled her away from the fire. So, I turned her on her back and then proceeded on trying to do CPR to bring her back to consciousness and I noticed she was breathing again and her husband was burned really bad."

EMSA took the couple to the hospital with second and third degree burns, but the injuries are not life threatening. Thanks to the heroic efforts of a good neighbor who was there to help. "I was really scared. I was just trying to help the lady as much a possible and get my family to safety at the same time, you know?"

Ronald Holley never performed CPR before Sunday. Two units of the apartment complex were damaged. Officials estimate the cost at between $75,000 and $100,000.

The Red Cross disaster team of volunteers has responded to help out families displaced by the fire.