OKLAHOMA CITY FIREFIGHTERS MOUNTED A coordinated fire attack and rescue effort early Sunday morning, but the victim perished during operation.  The fire was reported around 3 am and when the units arrived on the scene there was fire showing in a 2-family wood framed house.

Neighbors reported that there was somebody trapped in the upstairs residence and pointed out a window where a woman was seen prior to their arrival.  The only access to the 2nd-floor dwelling is an outside stairwell that was blocked by the fire, so they laddered the window where the victim was last seen.

All photos by Larry Shapiro

Despite meeting intense smoke and heat at the window, two firefighters made it into the room discovering that the window sill  was more than four feet above the floor.  They found the victim in the room where they entered and the hose crew had just knocked the fire down, freeing up the exitway on the rear stairs.  The rescue crew carried the victim, described as a woman in her early 20′s, out via the stairs where they were met by the paramedics.

After examining the victim, the medics (legally) pronounced her dead and left her at the scene for the coroner.  Fire investigators and homicide detectives were called in and held the units on the scene until they finished their preliminary investigation.  They found nothing suspicious about the fire, but  the cause was not immediately known.  The victim was a friend of the residents who was visiting, however everybody else escaped the fire from both dwellings.

Exclusive story and photos filed by Larry Shapiro.
View photographer Larry Shapiro’s entire 98-image photo gallery HERE.

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