Norman Couple Loses Pet, Needs Help Following Fire

A couple loses everything in a fire including a beloved pet. As they continue to recover, their family is helping them pick up the pieces. On January 19, Ann and Frank Pearce woke up to flames surrounding their apartment at the Forest Pointe Apartments in Norman. Had it not been for a good Samaritan, they say they would not have gotten out alive.

“It was just so terrifying,” said Ann Pearce, fire survivor. “I said ‘Frank we're gonna die, we're gonna die, get us out of here!”

However, while trying to open a window, Ann said Frank was overcome with smoke and passed out. “I dropped to the floor to be able to breathe,” she remembers. “A voice in my head said, ‘Get to the window, get to the window.’” 

She went to the window. “By then the maintenance men were going to the apartment to the left of us and they heard me yelling for help and hitting the window, so they come over and raised the window and they took me out and I said, ‘get my husband, get my husband,’” she said.

Both got out but Frank was hospitalized from smoke inhalation and some burns. “They told me they weren't sure if he was gonna make it or not, but God blessed him and saved him,” Ann said.

Frank is now home, and the complex found them a new apartment. “We lost everything,” Frank Pearce said. “When you have a fire, it takes everything.”

However, nothing is more precious than their pets, Molly their 12-year-old miniature dachshund unfortunately didn’t survive. “She was just the best friend anybody could ask for but she didn't make it, I could hear her screaming,” Ann said tearfully. 

But their cat, Rufus, came out from the ashes. “She hid up in the box spring and so she didn't get smoke inhalation or anything, she had a little smoke dust on her face,” she said.

 And to the man who saved them, Ann said “I'd grab him, and I’d hug him, it was just so close to death, I was so afraid, I’ve never been so afraid.”

 The couple got out with their clothes on their backs. To make matters worse, Ann says someone stole their two safes from the burned-out apartment. If you would like to help the couple, click here: Fundraiser by Nickie Mcclure: Norman apartment fire (gofundme.com)