TULSA, OK (KJRH) — Crews responded to a fire at a midtown Tulsa home on Thursday afternoon.
The fire happened around 12:30 p.m. in the 4900 block of South Columbia, near 51st and Lewis.
.@TulsaFire still fighting a total loss fire at the corner of S Columbia and E Skelly in midtown Tulsa. The lone homeowner says he was burning extra wood in his fireplace and went to take a nap, heard crackling and came out to see a fire in his living room. @KJRH2HD pic.twitter.com/r1pjH7rxsh
— Chris DiMaria (@chris_DiMaria) March 28, 2019
The only person who was inside the home, a man, was able to safely exit.
The fire is at the same home involved in a deadly home invasion last year, in which a homeowner shot and killed an intruder.
Officials said the home was packed full of items, which made it difficult to battle the flames. It took about 40 minutes for crews to get the fire under control.
Tulsa firefighters say the fire quickly spread through the midtown home. The homeowner says he was burning extra wood in his fireplace when he went back into his bedroom, but just after 12:30 he heard the crackling of debris that had caught fire.
He called 9-1-1 and tried to put out the flames. Fire dispatch told him to get out of the house, so he crawled out and made it across the street.
"The neighbor came through my back door," his neighbor Joanna Chapman said. "He said, 'I guess you don't know what's going on. My house is on fire.'"
Firefighters say ammunition stored in the house was going off when they arrived. The house was a total loss, but no injuries were reported. Fire investigators are attempting to determine a cause of the fire.
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