A "tremendous amount of fire" spread rapidly at a Tulsa apartment complex where two people were fatally injured in 2009, a Tulsa firefighter testified Wednesday.
"Conditions were bad," firefighter Chad Meyer said. "This fire was way ahead of us."
Prosecutors maintain that the fire erupted early March 10, 2009, because of meth-cooking activities by Mark William Roberts in his residence at the Royal Arms Apartments.
Roberts, 46, is on trial for four felonies -- two counts of felony murder and single counts of first-degree arson and attempted manufacturing of a controlled dangerous substance.
A jury was seated and testimony started Tuesday in Tulsa County District Judge William Kellough's court.
Investigators say the fire began about 4 a.m. in Roberts' unit at the complex, in the 5100 block of South Norfolk Avenue, and spread to other apartments.
Maria Martinez, 39, and Armando Nunez, 35, who were in a neighboring apartment, died after being burned in the blaze.
Another neighbor, Nikki Cain, was rescued from her apartment but suffered smoke inhalation and brain damage. Cain is in a vegetative state and on a feeding tube and is not expected to recover, according to testimony Wednesday.
Jurors heard a recording of a 911 call for help from Cain, who could be heard saying, "Help me!" and "Oh, God, I can't breathe!"
Meyer said he entered Cain's apartment and encountered fire "from the floor to the ceiling."
He testified that he saw "a foot sticking out of a blanket."
Meyer indicated that Cain was not breathing and said he picked her up and took her out of the building.
"As firefighters, we're supposed to show up and make things better," he said.
"Nikki Cain will forever be a part of my life," he testified.
Roberts received treatment at a hospital for burns.
Kathy Smith, who said she and Roberts were good friends, testified that she saw the fire at the complex and said his apartment was "deadly black."
"I thought he was dead," she said.
Smith testified that when she saw Roberts walking slowly out of a breezeway, she smelled burned flesh.
Roberts asked her to take him to a hospital and said, "Please don't tell anyone," Smith testified.
She said she and Roberts previously had used methamphetamine together.
A Tulsa police detective testified at a 2009 hearing that when questioned, Roberts said he was asleep on a couch and was awakened by smoke, which he thought was coming from an apartment below him.
Copyright 2012 - Tulsa World, Okla.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
