OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – Tragic moments in southeast Oklahoma City Friday morning after a woman was killed in a house fire.
“I’m just in shock, like maybe we didn’t do enough,” said resident Lori Beal.
Beal was emotional as she described the moments she woke up to see flames and smoke coming from her neighbor’s house.
Beal and her husband went right into rescue mode.
“My husband was on his knees, to try to get to underneath the smoke, and I kind of bent down a little bit and I made it maybe four steps in before my eyes just were watery from all the smoke and I couldn’t breathe,” she said.
Only a few feet into the house, they tried to call out for the elderly woman who lived there alone, but didn’t get any response.
“We were hollering, we were calling her name and at one point we did actually break the window out in the bedroom because we were thinking that she might be in there,” said Beal.
She says even after watching her husband run into the burning house, her sole focus, was on her neighbor.
“I was just more concerned with my neighbor because I know my husband is a strong man, but I just wanted her to get out safely, but she didn’t,” she said in tears.
Firefighters say the flames broke out before 3 a.m.
“There was heavy fire in the attic, a lot of fire and a lot of smoke in the attic,” said Batt. Chief Benny Fulkerson with the OKCFD.
They knocked down the fire in minutes, but couldn’t save the woman inside.
Beal says her neighbor was kind, always smiling, and a devout Christian.
Now, they’re left heartbroken trying to piece together how this could’ve happened.
“She’s been my neighbor for years, you know?” she said. “I just wish we could’ve done more.”
Firefighters are still investigating a cause.
The victim’s name has not been released.
