OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – Oklahoma City fire crews battled a blaze in freezing temperatures Monday morning in the northwest part of the city.
Fire officials said some people will be displaced, making it more than just an inconvenient wake up call for some residents there.
“It’s a sad situation,” said Lamar Huddleston, a resident of the apartment complex near NW 36 Street and May Avenue. “It’s sad.”
Huddleston said he didn’t know what was going on at first when he woke up in his unit Monday morning.
“My son and I came out of the room at the same time, and I looked at him and said, ‘are you cooking?’ and he said no,” Huddleston said.
Then, the fact that he was right next door to the flames of the fire became a quick reality.
“The woman outside started hollering, ‘it’s a fire, it’s a fire’ by beating on the window,” he said.
Huddleston said he and his son grabbed some clothes to brave the cold and quickly got out.
“The apartment was engulfed in flames,” he said.
Fire officials on scene said a passerby reported heavy smoke and flames.
Battalion Chief Greg Merrell said that a couple apartments were involved in the fire, mainly on the north side of the complex.
“The fire was rapidly extinguished by our crews,” Merrell said. “There will be some that will be able to reside here, the entire complex is not completely damaged, but there is going to be some displaced occupants.”
A couple of those displaced occupants will be Huddleston and his son after smoke from the fire reached their unit.
Huddleston said they were planning to move anyway, but this sped things up. Now, they only have one option for the time being.
“I’m probably going to be in a hotel room until they either tell me they fixed the apartment, or we find another house or apartment,” he said.
Huddleston told KFOR he and his son are OK.
Merrell said there were no reported injuries. Someone did live in the unit where it started, but the cause of the fire is still under investigation.