Woman Loses Mother, Memories In Broken Arrow House Fire

A Broken Arrow woman is trying to come to grips with the loss of her mother, her home and years’ worth of memories after a New Year’s Eve fire.

Meshel Heffner said she and her husband bought their home three years ago, hoping their daughter would grow up there.

But their hopes for the future, along with their past, are destroyed.

On December 31, 2017, Heffner and her family left home to ring in the new year with friends. She said while they were gone, her mom, Shelly, came over to watch the dogs.

A few hours later, their house was in flames with her mom still inside.

"I pretty much knew when I got here that if she was inside she wasn't coming out," Heffner said.

"There was a back exit, out the back of the house, and the victim was found near that exit, so it is possible they were trying to get out and just didn't make it," said Broken Arrow Fire Marshal Stan Spradlin.

Now heartbroken, Heffner is grieving the loss of not only her mother but the years of happy memories her family made in the house.

"All my baby pictures of my daughter, all my wedding pictures. I lost my dad again, his ashes were in the house," she said.

The family also lost four cats and two dogs in the fire.

"Just freezing conditions, everything was freezing up - the nozzles, the bells on the nozzles were freezing. It was just a brutal night to be fighting fire," Spradlin said.

Firefighters battled flames and hot spots for eight grueling houses in the bitter cold temperatures.

"Overall there is nothing left. It was totally destroyed," Spradlin said.

Now, Heffner is trying to pick up the pieces.

"I don't know what to say, she was my everything, she was my world," Heffner said. "Everything. We have nothing."

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

If you would like to help the Heffner family, a Go Fund Me page has been created.