TULSA, Okla. — An east Tulsa church out of options called the 2 News Problem Solvers after it said a pickup with a trailer overflowed its dumpsters with fireworks in the early morning hours after July Fourth.
"This is not backyard fireworks," Aldersgate United Methodist Church pastor Donna Nichols said on the Problem Solvers voicemail. "And it's two dumpsters full. Our security cameras picked up short video of a pickup truck pulling a flatbed trailer that had stopped at our dumpster and then left."
Pastor Nichols said administrators first got rejected by their trash pickup service because the materials are considered hazardous and had overflowed both dumpsters, both non-starters for pickup.
Nichols said a Tulsa police dispatcher then said fire crews can't come and police can't file a vandalism case because there were no "no trespassing" signs.
On July 6, a Tulsa Fire Department official told 2 News the church can request firefighters to come hose everything down for good measure then ask a remediator to pick up the rest at the church's expense.
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But Pastor Nichols said she'd first like police to investigate. A TPD spokesman told 2 News the church's complaints will be reviewed on July 7. Nichols hopes the church's security footage of the incident is reviewed too, and that a perpetrator is charged.
“For danger, yes, and for the expense caused to the small congregation," the pastor said. "And besides, it’s just a real mess. And I really do not want anybody to risk opening the bags even and looking to see what’s inside.”
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