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March 8, 2013

Firefighters extinguish morning blaze

By Jessica Bruha The Norman Transcript

NORMAN — Norman firefighters extinguished a house fire early Thursday morning near the University of Oklahoma campus.

The fire department responded to a structure fire call at 2:08 a.m. at 203 E. Brooks St. on the corner of Brooks and Monnett Avenue. The house was unoccupied and no injuries were reported, but neighbors were evacuated from their homes until the fire was put out.

“It’s probably one of the scariest things you could come out of your house to see,” neighbor Joshua Douchinsky said.

Douchinsky evacuated his home when he pulled back his window shade and saw smoke. By that time, firefighters had already arrived, he said.

“The whole thing was completely consumed,” Douchinsky said.

When firefighters arrived on scene, the house was fully involved and the fire was coming through the front of the house, Deputy Fire Chief Jim Bailey said.

Firefighters experienced difficulty with the first hydrant they tried hooking up to on the corner of Brooks Street and Jenkins Avenue due to a failed hydrant, Bailey said.

Waterline maintenance worker Jesse Duffey later looked at the hydrant and said someone must have bumped into it.

“See how it’s loose?” Duffey said while pushing on the hydrant, causing it to wiggle in the ground. “It broke down into the ground.”

After firefighters were able to hook up to another hydrant, east of Monnett Avenue, they contained the fire. Bailey said the fire was contained in about 25 minutes. Four fire engines responded to the blaze along with Norman Police, EMSStat and OU police.

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