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Tulsa house fire victim recounts his journey to rebuilding

Posted at 10:23 PM, Nov 30, 2022
and last updated 2022-12-01 12:59:48-05

TULSA, Okla. — On Tuesday a fire set three structures ablaze in a neighborhood near 81st and Delaware.

Don Medford, was among the house fire victims affected who spent all day trying to figure out what's next.

“After 24 hours, of this happening it’s kind of starting to sink in – the brevity of the mess I’ve got to clean up," Medford said.

Medford spent all day sifting through what was left of his home trying to salvage the little that's left after a fire tore through the property he rents and the other two structures on his block Tuesday evening.

“I’ve got insurance thank God. Unfortunately, they don’t and that’s a family of five and so I don’t know how they’re going to end up… that’s going to be a little tougher on them," Medford said.

Medford said his landlord of 20 years surprised him with his deposit Wednesday.

“I thought, well, that was very nice of him, it was a pleasant surprise," Medford said.

Medford is grateful everyone got out to safety, including his two pets, and wanted to make sure he thanked first responders for their efforts too.

“Thank you very much though to the Tulsa Fire Department for battling this thing yesterday because they really put their lives on the line, the smoke, everything was terrible, so we really appreciate what you did and God bless you," Medford said.

Medford's neighbor is also grateful they were able to stop the flames from consuming his duplex.

“We said God, thank you, for sparing our home," Elisa Mangesho said.

Medford said the home where the fire started burned around the same time last year. We talked with Jon Slover, the tenant who lived there when that happened.

“It was devastating to sit there and watch that and watch your whole life go up in flames and then, yesterday I was in a meeting and I got a text from my brother telling me that the same thing was happening again, so it was just kind of unbelievable," Slover said.

We still don't know what caused this latest fire. When I talked to Tulsa Fire, they told me they're still investigating.


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