A sprawling estate on Mayes Drive in Norman was reduced to ashes Sunday morning after a mattress fire inside the roughly 8,000-square-foot home spun out of control, sending flames witnesses say climbed as high as 90 feet into the sky. The blaze at 4550 Mayes Drive started around 7:06 a.m. and had already engulfed the entire structure by the time the first fire crews arrived, according to dispatch audio cited in the report.
The homeowners, Myra and Leonardo Espinoza, were home when the fire broke out and told firefighters that a mattress had caught fire, which the homeowner then attempted to extinguish himself, according to the Purcell Register. The couple, who own the home per McClain County records, escaped unharmed and managed to rescue their pets before the fire consumed the property. Neighbor and eyewitness Carol Kluth was among those who watched the scene unfold, and the newspaper's report credits authors John D. Montgomery and Mark Codner alongside Kluth for documenting the blaze.
A Fire That Outran the Fastest Possible Response
Newcastle Fire Station 2 sits just 0.2 miles from the scene along State Highway 9, and crews arrived within two minutes of the call being dispatched, a response time made possible by the department's proximity rather than distance. Even so, firefighters arrived to find the home already totally involved, with flames reportedly reaching at least 50 feet beyond the roofline, according to the same account. Station 2 sent two apparatuses with four firefighters, while Newcastle Station 1 rolled out with one engine and three more, both stations paged out simultaneously.
Witnesses reported seeing at least one or two explosions during the fire, along with other apparent explosions that produced no sound, per the Purcell Register's account. As the fire escalated to a fully engulfed situation, Newcastle issued an all-page call and requested mutual aid from the Goldsby and Blanchard fire departments, which responded with four additional apparatuses and eight personnel. Six more firefighters with three apparatuses also responded to bolster the effort, and McClain County Emergency Medical Services was on standby to support firefighters if needed.
Neighbors Flooded 911 as Flames Grew
The scale of the fire prompted additional 911 calls from neighbors beyond the initial report, with one caller reportedly warning dispatchers, “You'd better send everything you have.” Firefighters ultimately spent seven hours at the scene battling the blaze, and crews returned Monday morning to address a lingering hot spot. Newcastle Fire Chief Todd Yates said the department appreciates the mutual aid it received from area fire departments in tackling the large-scale fire.
Newcastle Fire Department was established in 1967 as a volunteer force and now operates three stations staffed by 19 paid and 10 volunteer firefighters, according to the City of Newcastle. The department maintains mutual aid agreements with neighboring municipal departments, including Blanchard and Goldsby, specifically to handle large-scale rural structure fires like the one on Mayes Drive.
A Home Built by a Local Banking Legend
The house was originally built by Pat and Gerry Mayes, with the property expanding over the years from about 6,000 square feet to roughly 8,000 square feet. Pat Mayes, who died in 2008, was a former Purcell and Norman banker who served 25 years on the Norman Board of Education and acquired First American Bank of Purcell in 1990, according to historical records reported by The Oklahoman. He had previously operated Mayes Funeral Directors before moving into banking, cementing his name across the local business landscape long before the estate that bore his family's imprint burned down decades later.
Real estate records from Zillow show the four-bedroom, seven-bathroom home sat on a 9.2-acre lot and had only changed hands in November 2025, when it sold for $1,675,000. Home sales exceeding $1.5 million are rare in Norman's 73072 zip code, where the median residential sold price ranged between $295,000 and $333,000 in 2025 and 2026, according to Monarch Real Estate — making the loss one of the highest-value residential fires the rural stretch of McClain County has seen in recent memory.
Mattress Fires Remain a Persistent National Hazard
Home structure fires that start with mattresses or bedding account for an average of 371 civilian deaths, 1,340 injuries, and $382 million in direct property damage annually across the United States, according to the National Fire Protection Association. Federal regulations enacted in 2007 under 16 CFR Part 1633 mandate open-flame flammability standards for mattresses meant to slow fire spread in homes, though the Mayes Drive fire shows how quickly even a contained ignition can overwhelm a structure once it takes hold.
No official state or local fire marshal findings confirming the definitive origin and cause of the fire have been reported, leaving the mattress fire account as the homeowner's description of events to responding firefighters rather than a confirmed determination. The blaze marks the second major residential fire to draw scrutiny in the Norman and McClain County area within the past year, following a separate arson case in which a Norman man pleaded guilty to torching a McClain County deputy's home in August 2025 — an intentional fire, unlike the accidental origin reported at Mayes Drive.
