Neighbor Saves Tulsa Woman From Deadly House Fire

<p>Tulsa firefighters are making sure people have working smoke detectors after a deadly fire. A man died in the fire near 46th Street North and Lewis, but a woman survived thanks to a brave neighbor.</p>

Monday, November 19th 2018, 6:03 pm

By: News On 6


Tulsa firefighters are making sure people in one Tulsa neighborhood have working smoke detectors after a deadly fire.

A man died in the fire near 46th Street North and Lewis, but a woman survived thanks to a brave neighbor.

That neighbor, Carl Walker, says he chalks up the rescue to God’s timing, explaining that he wasn’t even supposed to be home on the night of the fire.

Walker says the moment he saw smoke and flames coming from the house next door, there was no time to think of a plan.

“I immediately grabbed a 2 by 6,” he said.  “I went to the first window and I said, ‘Hey!  Hey, Joe!’  I went to the second window and, when I went to the third window, it sounded like I heard something, but the windows were barricaded.”

He says he talked with his long-time friends earlier in the day on Friday and knew they were home.  He ran to the back of the house and says he saw a shadow behind a set of French doors.

“I panicked,” declared Walker.  “I just found a big ole rock and I just threw the rock through it, and she was right there, about six feet in, just right there.  I walked in and I just grabbed her, and she was trying to jerk away and I pulled her on out.”

Walker says that’s when Tulsa firefighters rushed onto the scene.

Firefighters say the flames were out of control.

“It was coming through one doorway down the hall and coming up behind us,” one firefighter recalled.

They found the victim in a back room.  He died a couple of days later at the hospital.

On Monday, there were flowers on the front lawn in memory of a person who neighbors say was a funny, good man.

“That is what you are supposed to do,” said Walker.  “That is what it is about, it’s about helping people.”

Some of the same firefighters who fought those flames were back in the neighborhood Monday going door to door to install working smoke detectors.

If you need one, call the Tulsa Fire Department non-emergency line.

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