Monday, April 15th 2024, 5:26 pm
The Red Cross is helping people who no longer have a place to live after a fire at a Tulsa apartment complex on Friday.
The fire happened at the Village at Brookside and it impacted people living in 33 apartments.
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Residents are still taking stock of what they lost depending on whether they were upstairs or down and the distance from where the fire was first spotted.
Zana Haworth wasn't home for the fire at her apartment building and she's glad to not have those memories.
"It just took off so quick," she said.
Her apartment was on the top floor, which is now exposed after the roof burned away.
The fire spread across the attic of an entire building.
The apartments on the top floor have the most fire damage, and those on the bottom were flooded.
A building next door has some fire damage too.
"When I walked out and looked up, I saw the flame go up and over the ceiling," said resident Jay Coffin.
Both Coffin and Haworth believe the fire started around the laundry room on the south end of the building.
"This is where it exploded," Haworth said. "That's where Josh and Kay live."
That couple escaped with their children. No one was hurt and every pet was accounted for.
But the residents all lost something and some lost everything.
The Red Cross had requests for help from people in 15 apartments.
"We start by meeting those immediate needs for food, shelter, clothing, and we move on to make sure they have a recovery plan, and they have a next step is going to be, and they can be successful," said Matt Trotter with American Red Cross.
A disaster response company was on the scene to start the cleanup while a few residents returned to get the last of any belongings they could salvage.
For most, it wasn't much, and their damaged property was piled in stacks left around the building.
The disaster restoration company was assessing the building with the most damage on Monday while work started to make the other two buildings livable.
The fire department has not determined the cause of the fire.
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