Two bodies found by neighbors in Oklahoma home a week after fire
Fire department says firefighters did two searches but were limited due to safety and structural collapse concerns
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More human remains were found after a house burned down in Stroud last week.
State agencies were at the residence on Wednesday, where they confirmed remains were discovered but wouldn’t say how many. On Friday, the Stroud Police Chief said two sets of human remains were found in the rubble — nine days after the home went up in flames.
Neighbors claimed the volunteer fire department in the town did not search the home during or after the fire. In a social media post, the Stroud Fire Department said those on scene did a “rapid primary search” of the first floor before thoroughly searching what was left of the collapsed second floor.
Complete statement on Facebook from Stroud Fire Department:
The Stroud Fire Department would like to express our condolences to the families who lost their loved ones in a tragic house fire in our community. The Stroud Fire Department was dispatched to a residential structure fire at 0403 hours on the morning of Wednesday, March 8th. Fire department personnel arrived at the residence on West 4th Street at 0411 hours. Upon arrival at the scene, personnel observed an extremely progressed fire, with flames extended out of the second-story windows and heavy smoke from both levels of the structure. Two tenants of the residence advised dispatch and the responding personnel, that all occupants were believed to be out of the structure. The Stroud Fire Department advanced multiple lines and made a quick attack to suppress the fire and began their initial search. A rapid primary search of the residence was executed in all stable areas of the first floor. The residence had begun to lose its structural integrity as areas of the second story had collapsed into the first story of the residence. Firefighters then executed a thorough search of the second level of the residence, in all areas that had not collapsed. A secondary search was then performed on the first level of the residence, without compromising the safety of the personnel in a possible collapse zone. The secondary search included no additional findings.
During the next passing days, family and friends had not been able to make contact with the individuals who were previously believed to have escaped from the fire. With that information, the Stroud Police Department began following leads on possible locations of the individuals, and all necessary action was taken to have them entered into the National Crime Information Center as missing persons.
The State Fire Marshall was then notified and an exploration of the property was scheduled for the morning of March 15th at 0800 hours. Sadly, human remains were located by family members the night prior to the planned exploration. The Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s Office will take the remains and attempt to make positive identification of the victims.
