Mannford Grass Fire Victims Lose Another Home In East Tulsa Fire
Mannford Grass Fire Victims Lose Another Home In East Tulsa Fire
16 December 2013
published by www.newson6.com
USA — The Sniders barely had settled into their Tulsa home when it caught fire around 11 a.m. on Sunday.
They lost their previous one in the massive Mannford grass fires more than two years ago.
Sifting through burnt belongs is something Kretia Snider’s family is becoming all too familiar with.
“I’m in shock; I can’t believe that this happened again,” Kretia Snider said. “I got called in from work. The house was completely engulfed in flames when I got here. I didn’t know if they had made it out or not.”
Kretia said her husband was giving their 2- and 3-year-old girls a bath when the unthinkable happened.
“He walked out to a living room full of fire, he wrapped the girls in a towel and got them out of there,” Kretia’s father-in-law said about his son.
Rocky says his son and his granddaughters climbed though the bedroom window because the doors were cut off by flames.
“It hurts, they just did this a couple years ago when they lost their place in Mannford,” he said.
What makes this tragedy even more difficult is that they lost everything inside — items given out of generosity when they were displaced.
‘The response after Mannford was overwhelming, they put an ad on Craigslist and people donated furniture and clothes,” Rocky said.
“People just come out of nowhere, they don’t even know you and they’ll give you the shirt off their back,” Kretia said.
Sadly, these emotional wounds cut even deeper.
“Just finished their Christmas shopping last night,” Rocky said. “Everything was in the house. It’s all gone.”
An electric fire is to blame, according to investigators. The Sniders say it was the lights on the Christmas tree that ultimately left the home gutted.
Kretia says being homeless for the second time in as many years has left her numb, but she’s thankful that through it all, she hasn’t lost what matters most.
“Everything else it’s just stuff, it can be replaced,” she said. “I mean, yeah, it sucks to start with nothing again. I’m just thankful that everybody is here.”
The Sniders also lost a cat and a hamster in the house fire and say they plan to stay with family in Inola until they figure out what to do next.
