Mannford, OK -
Creek County investigators say a cigarette might have caused the recent wildfires. A witness told investigators that a man who appeared drunk tossed it.
As many as 209 homes were lost in fire. Now, a lot of people are living a nightmare. Tawnya Calzada says she fought the flames with her family. Very scary, and we just have flashbacks of it everyday," she told Tulsa's Channel 8. She says they saved their home and others, but people like Janice Miller lost everything. "It's just sad. Everything you've worked your whole life for is burnt to the ground in 30 minutes," she explained.
It's been a week since the first fire started. Rumors about how it happened were spreading just as fast as the fires, but the Creek County Sheriff's office may have had an idea all along. An investigator tells Tulsa's Channel 8 that a witness came forward that first day claiming a drunk man tossed a cigarette. "There's no point of flicking your cigarette out. If anybody was trying to hurt anybody by this, they did the wrong thing because it just made the community stronger and come together more," Miller said. She says local churches and others have been a lifeline. However, it's justice investigators hope to give them. They have a name and say they know who was with the smoker. "I hope they get caught and pay the consequences for what they did," said Calzada..
Investigators say they're determined to talk to suspect and the two people who were with him face to face,but they have to find them first. Tulsa's Channel 8 has also learned that a cigarette and firecrackers were found at the scene and are in evidence.
