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'Blessed to be alive': Beggs community rallies around fire survivor

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BEGGS, Okla. — A Beggs man lost everything in a mobile home fire just weeks ago.

"I feel blessed to be alive," said Philip Kirk.

When Kirk's space heater caught fire, he said he narrowly escaped before his mobile home was engulfed in flames. Megan Terry, Kirk's friend who works at the park, said she saw it all.

"I don't know how he survived. I don't know how he got out of there. God was watching. It was a miracle," Terry said.

WATCH: Friends talked to 2 News about the fire as they raised money to help him:

Resident survives mobile home fire in Beggs

The fire destroyed Kirk's home and all of his belongings, but the biggest loss, he said, is his pet, Spunky Cat.

"She was a little kitten, she was in there rubbing on me that morning. And she didn't make it out, so I kinda blame myself for that, and that's hard to get past. I still have nightmares of her being in the flames, it plays over in my head a thousand times. But there's nothing I can do to change it," Kirk said.

Heartbroken and burned, emergency crews rushed Kirk to the hospital for skin grafts. As he healed, his friends and family refused to let him suffer in silence.

"It's hard for me to accept help or ask for it," Kirk said.

They organized a GoFundMe to raise money for a new home and, in the meantime, got him a hotel. "My sisters were kind enough to pay for a month. And that month ended the day that I got the RV," Kirk said.

Beggs man gets new RV

The new RV is parked in the same spot as the last, but its resident says he has a new lease on life.

"I'm really grateful and appreciative and a thousand times more appreciative to be alive," Kirk said.

"Yes," Kirk replied when 2 News asked if he planned to get another kitten. "It's a little calico as well."


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