Residents jump from balcony as fire burned outside apartment
BY AMANDA BLAND World Staff Writer
Friday, November 23, 2012
11/23/12 at 2:47 PM
Two people were forced to jump to safety after an arson fire broke out on the stairwell leading to their apartment, firefighters said.
Crews arrived at the Autumn Woods Apartments, 5151 S. Utica Ave., around 12:30 a.m. to find fire showing in a stairwell of a 20-unit structure in the complex’s southwest corner, said Tulsa Fire Capt. Randy Reed.
Two upstairs residents jumped off their apartment’s balcony in order to flee the growing blaze, Reed said. They were not injured.
Firefighters contained the fire to the stairwell but the surrounding units sustained smoke damage.
Investigators with the Tulsa Fire Marshal’s Office have determined the cause of the fire was arson but are continuing to investigate the source of the blaze, said Capt. Stan May.
The estimated cost of repairs to the structure is $20,000.
A downstairs resident whose unit opens onto the affected stairwell said she was awoken by people talking loudly outside her apartment, which she said is not uncommon for the complex.
She said she looked outside her bedroom window and saw embers falling from the unit above hers. She left her apartment and saw flames shooting from the upstairs stairwell.
“It’s scary because I’ve never been involved in a fire before,” she said. “I didn’t know if the whole building was going to go up.”
Residents of one unit were displaced.
Associated Images:
Two people were forced to jump to safety after an arson fire broke out on the stairwell leading to their apartment, firefighters said. Crews arrived at the Autumn Woods Apartments, 5151 S. Utica Ave., around 12:30 a.m. on Nov. 23, 2012, to find fire showing in a stairwell. AMANDA BLAND/Tulsa World
firefighters said. Crews arrived at the Autumn Woods Apartments, 5151 S. Utica Ave., around 12:30 a.m. on Nov. 23, 2012, to find fire showing in a stairwell. AMANDA BLAND/Tulsa World
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