Close call for Tulsa firefighters battling an early Friday morning arson fire

Another arson fire in north Tulsa. Investigators say they're not sure exactly how an early Friday morning fire started, but believe it was no accident. <br/><br/>A firefighter narrowly escaped being

Friday, May 6th 2005, 6:17 am

By: News On 6

Another arson fire in north Tulsa. Investigators say they're not sure exactly how an early Friday morning fire started, but believe it was no accident.

A firefighter narrowly escaped being injured. The house in the 1100 block of East Easton was vacant, had no electrical service and should have been unoccupied, but fire investigators believe someone was inside early Friday morning when a fire started.

It was a big fire, fueled by the contents of the house, which was being used for storage by the owner. Firefighters were hampered by clutter inside. They stopped fighting the fire from inside when some cans of paint and stain started falling on them, it set a couple of firefighters clothing on fire, but they made it out OK.

Tulsa Fire investigator T.D. Cline: "And if you injure a firefighter, or we've even had people set houses on fire they thought were vacant and somebody was asleep upstairs."

Fire investigators say they have already investigated 89 arson fires just this year. They have had several this week, in vacant houses in north Tulsa, but don't believe they are related.

Still they want tips on this fire, or any other suspicious fire and they're willing to pay for them through the arson hotline at 596-2776.The house on East Easton was a complete loss but no one was injured.