Residents picking up pieces after large fire at south Tulsa apartment complex

TULSA, Okla. — Residents of a south Tulsa apartment complex are picking up the pieces after a fire on Monday destroyed their homes.

The fire is still under investigation, but they believe it could be accidental. Andy Little with the Tulsa Fire Department said they aren't ruling anything out and are still gathering evidence. Little said 36 units were impacted, displacing 46 people.

Amelia Vaughn, one of the residents impacted by the fire, said she had just woken up when the fire started.

Amelia said she and her husband tried to get their cats out, but had no luck.

"I honestly didn't care that like all my stuff was going up, but the terror that my animals were inside," Amelia said.

She watched as the apartment above hers engulfed in flames.

"We were maybe in our apartment for five minutes and by the time we came out, the entire porch was up in flames, up in smoke," she said.

After the fire was put out, Amelia was able to quickly go inside and tell firefighters where the cats may be. Both cats were found and are ok.

Amelia said she was shocked by the amount of damage she saw.

"The entire ceiling is gone there was just rumble and things that like all over the ground, I didn't even recognize my apartment," Amelia said.

Jeremiah Johnson with the Red Cross said they've been providing help to everyone who needed it.

"We help connect people with community resources, so while we help those first few steps in recovery, we help provide the rest of the community available to them and help guide them along the recovery," Johnson said.

"We weren't able to talk to them that night, but the day after, we talked to them and they got us set up with medication, because we lost all our stuff and clothes and food panties and things like that," Amelia said.

Amelia is grateful she and her husband are safe, even though they lost everything.

"We did lose a lot and we don't know what we can salvage, but we are alive and that's all that matters," Amelia said.

She said first floor residents were able to go inside their apartments and get some belongings, something she hasn't been able to do being on the second floor.

The complex told her it's unclear when the second and third floor residents will be able to go inside their apartments and the fire is under investigation.

The Vaughn's organized a GoFundMe HERE .