Vision 2025 Funded Playground Burns

Tulsa fire crews put out a fire at a neighborhood playground over the weekend. It happened in the Briarwood neighborhood near 41st and Mingo. The playground was paid for with Vision 2025 tax money.

Monday, August 7th 2006, 10:10 am

By: News On 6

Tulsa fire crews put out a fire at a neighborhood playground over the weekend. It happened in the Briarwood neighborhood near 41st and Mingo. The playground was paid for with Vision 2025 tax money.

What took months of hard work, went up in flames in a matter of minutes. News on 6 anchor Craig Day says one by one, people who live in the Briarwood neighborhood are finding out what happened to their playground.

The one they worked so hard for. The one they enjoyed so much. "Well, we were driving by and I was like What the Heck? That's out new toy. Our new playground." Marshall Gladden was driving by with his older brother Winston, when they noticed the melted plastic, the fire scene tape, and the scorched mulch. Winston Pratt: â€œI just can't believe it. It's ridiculous. Itâ€™s ridiculous. To have somebody to have the audacity to do this to a brand new playground that we've been waiting for years."

Investigators believe a 13-year-old boy playing with lighter caught the mulch on fire. With such dry conditions, the fire quickly spread.

Russell Reck is the neighborhood association president. "There's never a day went by, or an evening that there was not someone in the park." Reck says residents were very proud of the playground which was funded with $25,000 in Vision 2025 funds.

While the Vision 2025 tax money paid for materials and mulch, all the work was done by volunteers. People who live here in this neighborhood, people who just wanted a nice place for children to play. Russell Reck: "What a great loss for the neighborhood. We had great help, volunteers coming and helping so now we've got to go back and start over."

Starting over will be hard. A year's worth of planning and construction was wiped out in minutes by flames fueled by a poor decision. Marshall Gladden: â€œWell, I like it a lot to play on. It was pretty fun. And now it's gone."

The neighborhood association is checking with its insurance company to see if the playground equipment is covered.

The 13-year-old who set the fire is charged with malicious injury to property.