Families Displaced Following Canterbury Apartment Fire

Residents at the Canterbury Gardens apartment complex said the smell of smoke from a fire in one of their buildings woke them up this morning.

Oklahoma City Fire Department said the fire started in the back of a building where several people live. No one was hurt, but now many families are looking for a place to live.

“I heard the fire trucks first. They normally run down the street to other accidents. It's like I can suddenly hear them stopping here and I said what's going on. When I went to my living room it was all smoked up. My granddaughter was on the floor she's all panicked,” Charles Holcomb said.

OKCFD Battalion Chief David Meyer said when their crews arrived they noticed the heavy fire and smoke coming from the rear of the building.

“We had a report that there were two people that had reentered the building. We were able to search and make sure that we're out and get a quickfire attack. We found a heavy fire involvement in the attic and we were able to extinguish that,” Battalion Chief Meyer said.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Although the fire didn't spread to other buildings several people are now displaced.

Jose Hernandez lived in the front part of the burning building.

“My brother-in-law, he was awake already he was running around the apartment trying to wake us up. He said that he saw a fire coming out the apartment right behind us. That's when I woke up and I took my kids and started to get out,” Hernandez said.

After fire crews left, Hernandez and his family went inside to see what's left of their home.

“They put water over our stuff so that's why we had to take all our stuff out. There's a bunch of water in all the apartment basically,” Hernandez said,

Hernandez said they are working with several agencies to get emergency housing. He's also been told he might be able to move into another apartment unit while they work to get back on their feet.