'It Was Really Intense': Witness Describes Fire At Owasso Goodwill

An Owasso Goodwill is recovering after a fire burned everything inside Tuesday evening and caused damage to the entire building.

Owasso fire officials said they were working to determine what exactly started the fire but noted that a lithium-ion battery that came in with some donations could be to blame.

Burned clothes and donation bins sat in the parking lot of what used to be the Goodwill donation center at 116th Street and Highway 169 in Owasso.

"It was really intense," said witness Cindy Priest.

Tuesday afternoon, the building caught fire, filling the sky with large clouds of smoke.

"Like the whole building engulfed in smoke, that's all we could see, was just clouded around," Priest said.

Priest was working next door and had a firsthand look at what was going on.

"We really didn't see the fire; we just saw a lot of smoke coming out and the firemen working to get it put out."

Timestamps on Priest's videos put the fire at around 4 p.m. Tuesday. The Owasso fire marshal said only two employees were in the store at the time, but both got out safely.

"I do hope they rebuild because there are people that hopefully don't lose their jobs because of this, and that's important," Priest said.

While this store remains closed until further notice, Goodwill Industries of Tulsa said, "We will continue to stock our stores from other donation sites, so customers still will be able to find great items at affordable prices in all locations."

For the time being, donors like Cindy will be checking out some of those other stores.

"Saturday, I filled the back of my Yukon with items to drop off here, and I didn't do it on Monday," she laughed.

Owasso fire officials said they are still investigating what caused the fire. Goodwill said it would still accept donations at the Owasso store and donation center near 86th Street in Owasso for now.