Winds, low water pressure hamper firefighters as fire engulfs OKC home overnight

Shortly before midnight Friday, the Oklahoma City Fire Department responded to a residential structure fire on the city's northeast side.

The home in the 100 block of NE 16th Street, which firefighters believed to be vacant, was fully engulfed in flames spurred on by strong winds upon fire crews' arrival, Battalion Chief Derak Stewart of the OKCFD said.

"As far as the fire intensity, once we arrived, it was on a level of one out of 10, it was a 10. It was maximum level, if you will," Stewart said. "When crews arrived, we had a fully involved residential structure with flames showing on all sides and then coming out the roof."

Firefighters were unable to enter the structure due to the severity of the fire, and instead worked from the outside to fight the flames and save the adjacent homes, Stewart said.

"We had to do a defensive operation and knock down the fire from the exterior, and then for some structural collapse issues, we weren't gonna put any firefighters inside this building," Stewart said. "There was two residential structures, one on each side of the fire structure, and we were able to keep fire from getting into those structures."

The home to the west of the fire-engulfed structure did receive external damage, but crews were able to prevent the flames from entering that home and causing additional damage, Stewart said.

Multiple trucks responded to the scene, including a brush pumper to assist in preventing embers from spreading to other surrounding properties, Stewart said, adding that Oklahoma Gas & Electric was also on site to assist with downed powerlines north of the blaze.

Javier Curry, a resident and neighbor who lives across the street said he believed the house was abandoned. Recently however, the home had been occupied by people experiencing homelessness and this was the second time he and other neighbors had noticed smoke at the property.

"I guess to keep warm they had started a fire," Curry said. "The first time it was nothing big, it was just smoke, and then this is the first big incident we've had."

No official cause of the fire had been determined Friday night, nor had a damage estimate been calculated. Stewart said crews will work on confirming that no one was inside the property.

No firefighters were injured in the fire and no civilian injuries have been reported.

"Fire crews put in tremendous effort here to get this fire knocked down and to also keep it from extending to those exposures. A lot of fire and these houses are pretty close together. It was a very, very tough firefight, at the beginning to keep that fire from spreading to other structures," Stewart said. "The strong winds [...] they were not helping that much."

Stewart said in addition to weather issues, crews had to contend with low-water pressure issues.

"Fire crews had to navigate some low water pressure in the area, which we caught multiple hydrants and brought in some extra water," Stewart said. "As far as why the water pressure was lower, I have no idea why, necessarily, at this point, but it's something that we always look at and we're always trying to improve."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Overnight fire engulfs, destroys home in northeast Oklahoma City