The Enid News and Eagle, Enid, OK

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December 4, 2009

83-year-old Enid woman dies in blaze, daughter critically injured

By Cass Rains, Staff Writer

An 83-year-old woman died and another woman was critically injured Friday morning in a house fire.

Fire Marshal Ken Helms said Delphia Breckner died in the house fire at 116 E. Walnut Friday morning. Her daughter, Brenda Glassack, suffered burns while trying to save her mother and is in critical condition at an Okla-homa City hospital.

“She was trying to save the mother but was forced to evacuate,” Helms said. “There was a bystander that was also trying to save the mother but they were also forced to evacuate.”

The cause of the fire likely was a portable heater being used to heat the entire home, Helms said.

“We have determined the most likely source of ignition was a portable electric space heater in the living room placed too close to a combustible material,” he said.

For some reason, gas service at the home was disconnected before the fire and could not be reconnected because of leaks.

“The gas never got turned back on so they chose to use portable heaters instead,” Helms said.

Helms said Glassack, 64, was outside the home when firefighters arrived after the 10:33 a.m. call. He was told Breckner was wheelchair-bound but said firefighters did not locate a wheelchair in the home. Firefighters did find a walker inside the home, and Helms said a ramp had been installed at one of the entrances.

A local business owner said he and an employee saw the flames from the fire and attempted to save Breckner.

“We were working, had the door open and one of my employees saw the flames at the front porch,” said Matt Gars, of Enid Performance Center, 610 N. Grand. “We ran down there, and the lady was already out of the house and someone was with her. She said her mother was inside, so we knocked down the back door but the flames were too bad and we couldn’t get to her.

“We ran around back to see if we could get in but we just couldn’t do it.”

Helms said a man who lived in an upstairs apartment at the house was not at home when the fire began but will no longer be able to live in the apartment.

The man is receiving assistance from Cimarron Valley Chapter of American Red Cross.

Glassack is being treated at Baptist Burn Center in Oklahoma City.

This is the second fatal fire in Enid this year. On April 18, Christopher S. Jones died when his vehicle caught fire at his home at 1806 Mockingbird Lane.

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