By John Dobberstein, Editor
One person was rescued and taken to the hospital Saturday morning but passed away after a house fire just east of Broken Arrow in unincorporated Wagoner County, officials said.
The Broken Arrow Fire Department and Oak Grove Fire Department were dispatched to the East 89th Street South, east of 257th East Avenue, at about 9:30 a.m. for a house fire. Firefighters had responded to a nearby area 15 minutes earlier and returned after receiving an updated address from dispatchers.
The Oak Grove Fire Department entered the home but had to climb through piles of garbage to conduct their search in what was described by officials as an “extreme hoarding” situation.
One victim was brought outside by Oak Grove firefighters and given lifesaving measures and then transported to a Tulsa hospital by the Broken Arrow Fire Department. Oak Grove firefighters said she did not survive.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation. The Wagoner County Sheriff’s Office and State Fire Marshal’s office also responded to the scene.
PHOTOS FROM TULSA TRAFFIC JAMS
Sonya Woodbury says
Hi there
Karen is my cousin. We are all both heartbroken and perplexed by how this may have happened. It seems there is more to this story. My father is there with her dad now. While at the house a neighbor said someone knocked on her door at about 5am and they didn’t answer. Perhaps someone trying to warn of seeing smoke coming from her house? If so? Why wasn’t 911 called at that time, instead of 4 hours later? Who is the neighbor that knocked on Karen’s next door neighbors house? She inhaled toxic fumes for at least 4 hours if that’s true. It could have been a much different outcome if they had called then. Secondly, based on the article it seems like the fire dept was dispatched to the wrong address initially? That was valuable time lost. Thirdly her father says there are two much closer full time fire depts closer to her house? Why was a much farther volunteer fire dept called which takes up much more time to assemble and get en route to the location? I’m hoping you have it in your purview to investigate these matter in more depth to get to the root cause of how all these things happened that may have cost her her life. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any information. She was one of the closest people to me in my life and I’m simply trying to advocate for her. Thank you.