Deadly Oklahoma City fire ruled arson
BY JOHNNY JOHNSON AND MATT DINGER
Published: November 4, 2009
Three people died Tuesday in a fire at this residence in the 2400 block of SW 24 in Oklahoma City. Photo by Paul B. Southerland, The Oklahoman
A ruling of arson was no surprise to at least one neighbor who saw an apartment fire Tuesday morning that killed three people.
Lynn, who did not want her last name published, said she woke up to the sound of her neighbor beating on her door, yelling for her to call 911.
"When I came out here, it looked like something had been thrown up on the porch, because the fire was actually going into the building,” Lynn said.
Her first thought was that someone had tossed a fire bomb at the house.
The woman told firefighters she believed her boyfriend was trapped in one of the apartments, and "I still don’t know if he’s dead or alive.”
Neither does his sister,
Linda Armstrong. She said no one has heard from her brother,
Kenneth Eugene McReynolds, 52, since the fire, and he was not one of those treated and released from a hospital.
She said the medical examiner has not notified her of his death.
McReynolds had lived in the building for several years, Armstrong said. He was known over the years by a number of nicknames, including Little Kenneth and Mac, she said.
"I can’t understand how a person could start a fire in a place of residence where maybe your intended victim wasn’t the only person living there. I’d like to see justice for all the victims of this,” Armstrong said.
Authorities were working Tuesday to identify the three victims.
Police were awaiting a ruling from the medical examiner before the deceased were officially classified as homicide victims.
Fire investigators said the apartment fire on SW 24 between Agnew and S Villa was intentionally set, but they released few details. Investigators from the fire and police departments were on the scene Tuesday evening.
The front of the structure was engulfed in heavy flames, and fire already was boring out the back side when firefighters arrived about 2:30 a.m.,
Deputy Fire Chief Cecil Clay said.
"Dispatch reported that there were people trapped in an apartment, and when we got there, that was the case,” Clay said.
A neighbor,
Wesley Rath, said no one has heard from Lynn’s boyfriend, who he knew only as Mac. Mac was mowing Rath’s lawn when the two first met after Rath moved in about two months ago.
"From that day forward, we became friends,” Rath said.
"He said he just wanted to be a good neighbor.”
Rath said Mac attended his nephew’s funeral Monday afternoon.
Nine people apparently were home when the fire was reported. Three people were found dead inside, and two were injured when they escaped, Clay said. One woman injured her back while jumping out a window, and a man burned his hand on a doorknob before exiting an apartment window.
"Our crews made an initial interior attack because there were people trapped,” Clay said. "They fought their way in, and we did find two victims, but they were already deceased so they did not remove them at that time.”
Two of the adult victims were on the second floor of the building. A third was found at the bottom of a first-floor stairwell.
As the intensity of the fire grew and the roof began to collapse, firefighters had to pull out and assume a defensive stance, Clay said.
"This is one of those types of structures that could have easily collapsed,” he said of the aging building. Clay said there is no information on the cause of the fire, other than it is believed to have originated near the front of the building.
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