TULSA-- When the temperature drops and Christmas approaches— the number of house fires tends to rise. That means more work for fire crews and agencies like the Red Cross that help displaced families.
There's nothing like the real thing when it comes to a Christmas tree-- but dry trees can pose a real fire danger. Firefighters say a simple act of making sure there's plenty of water in the tree stand could save your life.
“With a Christmas tree we got a larger heavier fire load and it goes up really quickly,” said Stan May with the Tulsa Fire Department.
Firefighters say they’ve been busy with a recent spike in house fires like one in south Tulsa Tuesday. The cause is still under investigation. No one was home, but the family lost everything.
Mark Rowland took a picture of the fire at his neighbor’s house as it burned—then he sprang into action.
“There was this big plume of smoke coming over the houses they were on the street, one over and so I ran over there,” Mark said.
Mark and his wife Debbie are volunteers for the Red Cross— and this time the family in need was just a few yards away.
“It's a relief-- you can actually see a physical relief when you say don't worry about where you're going to stay don't worry about replacing some clothes or shoes or some food red cross will help you with that,” Debbie said.
According to the Red Cross, across Oklahoma the organization has responded to 152 fire calls and helped more than 560 people get back on their feet after losing everything.
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