OKC Fire Investigators Discuss Next Steps In 5-Alarm NW OKC Apartment Fire

Two days after the initial 911 call, crews are still working to put out fires at The Canton at Classen Curve apartment complex. 

The building went up in flames Tuesday night. As of Thursday afternoon, the building is mostly a smoldering pile of rubble.

"Three hundred, twenty-five apartment units. There's still so much of this building we have yet to access," Oklahoma City Fire Department Captain Scott Douglas said.

While firefighters continue to monitor the remnants of the complex, wrecking crews started the cleanup process.

"The wrecking company -- they're just taking a little piece at a time as they expose some areas that we haven't got to,” Douglas said. “We're able to extinguish that fire as they tear down portions of the building and expose the fire to us.”  

The walls at the Canton at Classen Curve's exterior walls began coming down Wednesday, making it impossible for fire investigators to get inside.

"Take a jigsaw puzzle, wet it down, burn it a little, then let firefighters trample all over it then drag it around a little bit and then try to put it back together," Oklahoma City Fire Department battalion chief Benny Fulkerson said. “With the destruction of the building itself and now the demolition, there's just nothing left physically for them to examine."

Investigators will look at building parts as they are available and use notes taken during the response in an attempt reconstruct the complex fire.

The elevator shafts and stairwells are still standing, which OKCFD said are surrounded by fire walls that the fire burned right past.

"They were where they needed to be and I'm not sure, other than the fact the fire spread too quickly on the roof, it just engulfed the roof very quickly,” Fulkerson said. "There was just so much fire that it just wasn't able to contain."

Firefighters have set up a collapse zone around the still standing parts of complex. The department said the developer will clear the rubble once the fire is out.