A fire that badly damaged a 28-unit apartment building early Wednesday was started intentionally by a resident, firefighters said.
Investigators believe that a man started the fire about 7 a.m. in his firstfloor unit at the Denver Park Apartments, 1723 Riverside Drive, where it quickly spread into the attic and throughout the building.
No one was injured, but the fire severely damaged three other units and displaced their residents, authorities said.
Fire investigators arrested James Taylor Stout, 56, about 8 a.m. on a complaint of first-degree arson, records show. He was booked into the Tulsa Jail with bail set at $20,000.
Investigators weren't releasing how the fire was started, but methamphetamine was not involved, Fire Capt. Scott Winford said.
Nearly the entire building sustained smoke or water damage, firefighters said. A second building at the complex was evacuated but not damaged.
Responding to reports of heavy smoke and flames, the first firefighters on the scene went door to door to alert residents, many of whom were still in robes and slippers.
Crews used axes to break into locked apartments when no one answered.
It was the second time some residents had watched a building at the complex burn. Another building was demolished after a cookingrelated fire in October 2009.
Alexsander Adams, his fiancee and 3-year-old daughter were displaced by both blazes.
"After that last one, having to move into this building -- now we'll have to move again, and we don't know where," Adams said.
Residents said they heard loud "popping" sounds about 7 a.m., quickly followed by thick smoke.
"It sounded like gunfire," said Jay Garrison, who lived in a unit adjacent to where the fire began. "The next thing I know, I stick my head out the door and I hear 'Get out of the apartment -- the building's on fire!' "
The fire began in Stout's unit on the east side of the building, where it spread to the apartment immediately above it and then into the attic, Fire Department spokesman Stan May said.
The west side of the building has three floors and the east has two.
Nanette Hansmeyer, who said she lived in one of the badly damaged units, sobbed in the parking lot as firefighters worked.
She had gone to work at 5:30 a.m. and rushed home when she heard about the fire.
"Everything I got is in there," she said.
Adams said his daughter had just been born when the other building caught fire, which made the ordeal especially difficult.
He said Wednesday's fire might have had worse timing because he was scheduled to take custody of his infant child from the Department of Human Services later in the day, and he feared that the loss of his apartment would postpone that.
The Tulsa Area Chapter of the American Red Cross was offering the displaced residents places to stay, food and clothing, spokeswoman Donita Quesnel said. About 28 residents were being helped, she said.
Police officers shut down Riverside Drive and Denver Avenue at 17th Street as firefighters battled the blaze.
Copyright 2012 - Tulsa World, Okla.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
