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February 5, 2009

Family of seven homeless after fire

By Keith Purtell



A family of seven was left wondering where they were going to live after a mobile home fire Thursday.

“I was up at McDonald’s when my neighbor called me,” said homeowner Jullie Brittain, crying. “He was trying to put it out with a fire extinguisher.”

The neighbor, Jeremy Jernigan, said he saw smoke before breaking out a window and pointing the extinguisher nozzle inside.

Brittain, 32, said she has lived in the mobile home at 6001 W. Broadway for seven years with her common-law husband Travis Bobbins and five children ages 1 through 13.

“I don’t know where I’m going to live now,” she said. “I guess I’ll have to stay with my mom and dad.”

Her parents, Jimmy and Carolyn Brittain, stood with their daughter and looked into the burned-out home. Children’s toys and scorched furniture littered the front lawn.

Muskogee Fire Department Assistant Fire Chief Wayne Shiew described the damage as “major” and included smoke and heat damage to the interior.

“They won’t be able to move back in here,” he said.

The home had a kitchen, living room, two bathrooms and three bedrooms.

“We believe the fire was electrical in nature,” Shiew said. “It seems to have started where a charger for her cordless phone was plugged in.”

Brittain told Shiew that they had been having trouble with the circuit breaker tripping but thought the problem was another plug-in on the same line.

Shiew said three pumper trucks and one rescue unit responded. The blaze was called in at 11:57 a.m. and the first fire truck arrived at 12:02 p.m.

“The first unit came in and knocked it down real quick,” he said. “Then the others came in and helped finish it up. We had 12 men out here.”



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