Fire Destroys Apartment Building

Saturday, February 10th 2007, 4:28 pm

By: News On 6

For the third time in as many days a Tulsa apartment complex is damaged by fire. The London Square Apartments near 59th and Lewis caught fire around 5:30 Saturday morning. Firefighters say the fire started on the second level of the apartment complex, and quickly spread into the attic. Wooden shingles on the roof made controlling the fire difficult, officials said. The fire also spread to the basement, where say buckets of paint and other cleaning supplies burst into flames, but fire officials do not believe there was a hazardous release of chemicals.

"That was one thing our Hazmat crews had to address was isolating and containing that, to get the fire out,â€ Tulsa Fire Department Captain Larry Bowles said. â€œWe don't believe we had any chemical release or anything that may have been hazardous."

Twenty-seven units were damaged; five are a complete loss. Everyone made it out of the apartment building safely, but as was the case with the other two fires, some people are now homeless. Those residents are receiving help from the Tulsa Red Cross. The organization says that apartment fires have displaced more than 50 families over the past three days. The Red Cross has provided many of them with food and clothing, as well as put many families up in hotels.