July 07--A 10-year-old boy was among those who jumped from the second story of a northwest Oklahoma City apartment after a fire broke out Saturday.
Roy Carrillo was visiting his 18-year-old sister, Edith, at Tuscany Village Apartments when they saw the door was on fire. Within minutes, strangers in the parking lot below convinced him and his sister to jump to their safety.
"I thought I was going to be dead in just a minute," Carrillo said while neighbors brought water to the shaken siblings. "It's very, very scary."
About 50 city firefighters were dispatched around 11:45 a.m. to tame the fast-moving blaze, which had already consumed the roof and breezeway of the eight-unit complex when they arrived, said Oklahoma City Deputy Fire Chief Marc Woodard.
Before firefighters could even start to attack the fire, the department had to go into rescue mode. Two teams of firefighters went inside one of the smoke-filled apartments when witnesses reported two children, one possibly an infant, were trapped inside, Woodard said.
"When we have a confirmed report we'll risk a lot to save a life," he said. "Fortunately, there wasn't two children up there -- it was just a dog."
Robert Lee Johnson Jr. said he sprained his ankle jumping from the balcony of his second-floor apartment seconds after waking up to smoke and alarms.
Johnson, who consoled his tearful fiancee while firefighters mopped up the scene Saturday, said he fled the dwelling barefoot and wearing only the pajamas in which he was sleeping.
Without insurance, he said he believes he lost all his possessions in the fire.
"I didn't grab nothing," he said. "I always see it on TV and feel sorry for the people and the fire department, but I never thought I'd be in there."
Strangers and neighbors hugged and brought pitchers of water to the victims while the building still burned in the background. The complex's roof caved in, and firefighters tore down several other walls to prevent it from spreading to the adjacent building. One neighboring complex was singed, but firefighters were otherwise successful in their containment.
Keishia Reese, who was driving past the building after leaving her mother's home nearby, said she and several others called 911 and began knocking on doors after they saw flames shooting up from the breezeway.
It appeared none of the residents were aware the building was on fire when Reese and the others started their work, she said. The group then formed tight circles on the pavement to catch residents forced to flee through windows.
"I just know to do what God would want me to do, I just started knocking on doors," she said.
Woodard said firefighters would likely be mopping up hot spots at the complex for several hours after the fire was contained. No word yet on what sparked the fire, but Woodard said investigators are working to make that determination.
Copyright 2012 - The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City
