A nurse at the intensive care unit at Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City was in the middle of her 12-hour shift Tuesday, treating coronavirus patients when she learned her home was on fire, according to local media.
Tina Irwin, who lives about four miles from the hospital, got in the car and hurried home, where three of her four children and their pets were still inside, according to KOCO 5 News.
“Please, Mom, help us,” her daughter said on the phone before the line died.
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Irwin arrived, reunited with her children and saved some belongings, then they escaped safely. He parked so close to the house that the bumper melted.
“I have been working in the front line as a COVID ICU nurse since April … coming home exhausted,” the station’s single mother said. “This was my safe place.”
An image of the flame posted on a GoFundMe family fundraiser shows almost the entire one-story house, engulfed in flames, with dwarf firefighters battling it in the front yard. The latter photos show a charred interior, with hardly anything left untouched by the fire.
Irwin’s son, on a holiday visit, told KOCO 5 that he heard a “pop” in the garage and opened the door to check. It is not clear what caused the fire.
“The whole garage is on fire, a massive fire,” he told the station. “I closed the door, shouted for my sisters and animals, and took them out.”
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Everyone was safe, although the house was destroyed, according to Patti Fanshier, a family friend who founded GoFundMe.
“The family only has their clothes on their backs,” she wrote. “She will need basic necessities for the next two weeks, but if we could bless her family financially, any amount would help as she picks up the pieces, especially during this holiday season.”