OKC firefighters investigating cause of NW metro house fire

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – The Oklahoma City Fire Department is investigating the cause of a fire in northwest Oklahoma City on Monday afternoon that displaced at least two people.

Crews responded to a neighborhood near NW 122nd Street and N Rockwell Avenue on Monday after getting a call from residents who self-evacuated from their burning home.

"There were two occupants at home at the time," said OKCFD Shift Commander David Shearer. "They said they had a wood burning fireplace and they noticed smoke coming from their light fixture."

Shearer says the residents told authorities they went upstairs to investigate and and they noticed smoke and flames coming from the second floor attic. The two people were able to evacuate without suffering any injuries.

Shearer says crews were able to get the fire knocked down in the attic before it could spread to any neighboring structures. News 4 crews counted at least seven fire engines that responded to the call Monday, with medical crews also on standby as needed.

Shearer says no firefighters suffered injuries, but some responding to the fire did get soaked.

"Most our crews are pretty wet and soiled from the smoke and soot," said Shearer. "So we are changing out their equipment."

Shearer wasn't able to say if the home was a total loss, or if investigators have determined a cause of the fire.

Shearer did say that this time of year is typically busier for fire crews due to frigid temperatures.

"The cold weather obviously results in more structure fires simply because people are using heat in ways that they don't normally use it to heat their structures," said Shearer. "And that does cause some additional fires."