Early this morning, residents of southeast Oklahoma City were abruptly awakened by the glaring evidence of a house fire. Oklahoma City Fire Department crews descended upon a residence near SE 49th St. and High Ave. around 4 a.m., battling to contain the inferno that had taken hold. According to a statement obtained by KFOR, Batt. Chief Mike Paschal with OKCFD highlighted the house's prior visits from the department, saying "I believe there’s probably homeless people going in and out of it every now and then. We’ve been here several times in the past."
The firefighters managed to quickly knock to get down the flames, and fortunately, no injuries were reported in the incident. Its cause remains undetermined, with investigators presumably to thoroughly scrutinize the charred remnants in hopes of uncovering the fire's origin. Meanwhile, another home in the vicinity of SE 44th and High also succumbed to an early blaze. Neighbors phoned in at about 3:45 a.m., prompting OKC Fire crews to rush to a home already engulfed in flames, as reported by KOCO. The urgency of the situation led to the evacuation of a neighboring home, though residents were later allowed to return.
Elsewhere, an Edmond neighborhood faced a similar trial when a home along Northwest 172nd Street near North Pennsylvania Avenue caught fire. The fight against the blaze was unexpectedly hampered due to a water main break that hampered firefighting efforts by lowering water pressure in the area. Nonetheless, the Oklahoma City Fire Department affirmed that the fire likely began at the rear of the house, and, as with the Oklahoma City fires, the cause is still a mystery. The heartening news in all this, as detailed by News9, is that there were no injuries reported in the Edmond incident as well.
