Welfare check turns into fire fight in Medicine Park

MEDICINE PARK — What began as a welfare check on a man under possible mental duress ended with an apartment fire and one person in custody Wednesday.

Shortly after emergency dispatchers requested the welfare check at Audubon Apartments, 22550 Oklahoma 49, firefighters were called at 11:15 a.m. to Apartment A regarding a fire. They arrived to find smoke pouring from the building, which houses three units. It was soon discovered a bedroom caught the brunt of the damage, according to Medicine Park Fire Chief David McCoy.

Brush, pumper and tanker trucks from Medicine Park, Wichita Mountains Estates and the Comanche Nation soon filled the small alcove and were able to quash the fire quickly although it took a long time for smoke to clear from the unit.

Once the smoke was cleared, firefighters went inside to search for anyone left inside. No one was there.

Moments later, a Comanche County Sheriff’s Deputy took a man wearing sunglasses into custody. After emptying the man’s pockets, he was put inside a unit.

McCoy said the bed and furniture in the bedroom were burned and the inside of the room was “scorched pretty bad.”

An investigator from the State Fire Marshal’s office was called to investigate the fire’s cause.

“It’s cause is suspicious,” McCoy said.