'I Can’t Believe That Happened': Neighbor Of Deadly Building Fire Speaks Out

A neighbor of the deadly fire near 18th and Cheyanne on Thursday morning is now speaking out about what he called a terrifying experience to wake up to. Trey Munden said when he woke up to what sounded like explosions and saw an orange glow in his apartment early Thursday morning, he immediately knew something was wrong.

Around 4:30 Thursday morning, Tulsa firefighters were called to an abandoned house to battle the blaze that was already well underway when they arrived. They soon found a man dead in the upstairs portion of that house as they were fighting that fire.

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Munden lives in an apartment only about 50 feet away from the building that was engulfed in flames. He said he woke up right before 4:30 a.m. and could see the huge fire before he even opened his living room curtain.

“4:20 is rough enough, but 4:20 with a blazing inferno in that back yard is just a lot,” Munden said.

This is when he said he grabbed his phone and started to record the scene unfolding but could not believe what he saw when he looked outside. He said waiting for the fire department to get there felt like hours, but said they were probably there within about ten minutes and got the fire out quickly.

“When I got closer to my window I could actually feel heat coming off the window, it wasn't super-hot but it was enough to be terrifying and I saw the transformer blowing up and that thing was blazing,” Munden said.

Munden said his building was not damaged at all but it was difficult to stand on his porch feeling helpless wondering if that deadly fire was going to spread to his home as well.

“Obviously I was nervous this morning but we were all standing out here watching it and we didn’t know what to think,” Munden said. “To later hear a man did die in that fire is just so sad I can’t believe that happened.”

The Tulsa Fire Department has not yet released the name of the victim found inside.