March 16-- A Friday morning house fire was an injured firefighter's first major blaze since returning to work, authorities said.
James O'Neal, who was injured in an arson Dec. 31 and returned to work in February, was among those who battled the blaze Friday, Fire Department spokesman Stan May said.
The 4:30 a.m. fire destroyed a long-vacant house in the 300 block of West 62nd Place North, May said.
O'Neal was part of a crew that entered the house but backed out when the fire grew out of control.
May said firefighters decided to battle the flames from the outside when they learned that the house was vacant and no one was inside.
Firefighters were working to determine a cause Friday.
O'Neal inhaled smoke through a defective mask during a similar interior attack in a house at 4926 N. Elwood Ave.
He had no problems Friday, May said.
"He's glad to be back," May said.
O'Neal, who has been a Tulsa firefighter for nearly 14 years, is part of the Engine 19 crew. He was unconscious and not breathing when fellow firefighters rescued him from the burning house Dec. 31.
Investigators later determined that arson was responsible for that fire.
Copyright 2012 - Tulsa World, Okla.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
