Sept. 5 Marks 10th Anniversary Of Fire That Destroyed Tulsa Charter School

Sept. 5 marks the 10th Anniversary of the fire that destroyed the Tulsa School of Arts and Sciences on 17th Street and Lewis Avenue.

It was around 5 a.m. on Sept. 5, 2012, when firefighters arrived to begin extinguishing the flame. Just 15 minutes later, they were caught in a terrifying situation.

The flames bellowed through the roof, windows, and exterior doors. Tulsa Fire Department had to assess the safest way of putting the fire out.

Around 5:15 a.m., an explosion rocked the building with firefighters inside. Eight of them were injured and suffered second and third degree burns across their bodies.

Stan May was the Public Information Officer for the fire department at the time.

“Everybody that was involved wound up thirty or forty feet farther back in the building than what they had started. Actually, that second explosion that knocked them off their feet blew a couple of guys out of the entry way out onto the sidewalk. We were very fortunate,” May said.

Investigators from the ATF later learned the explosion was a rare phenomenon called a “double backdraft.”

The cause was from unburned gas trapped in a crawlspace below firefighters and in the ceiling above them.

“You very seldom see that in a vented building where it’s coming out already. And to see it twice, I don’t think we’ve ever had film like that to look at,” May said.

Captain Alec Ridener was one of the eight firefighters inside. He received second degree burns and was off the job for three weeks. Today, he said he is thankful for his training.

“We all got out of that because of our training. That’s why training is important and why we do what we do to prepare for things like that that are unexpected,” Ridener said.

Three of the eight firefighters had to have skin grafts. All eight of them survived and are still working with the fire department.