Body found inside burning vehicle outside OKC Walmart
A body was found Monday afternoon inside a burning vehicle outside a Walmart in northwest Oklahoma City.
Firefighters and officers responded to an emergency call of a possible car fire from Walmart security at 1801 Belle Isle Blvd. shortly after 1 p.m. Monday. Emergency crews found a red Chevrolet Trailblazer, smoking but still largely intact, and quickly extinguished the fire.
“The vehicle appeared to be in decent shape,” said Capt. Scott Douglas with the Oklahoma City Fire Department. “There was very minimal amount of fire left, actually. When our guys showed up, the back hatch was open, and there was a little bit of fire come out of the back, and unfortunately that’s where the body was.”
One person was found dead inside the vehicle. Identification of the body, including gender or race, has not been provided by investigators, and it is unclear if the person died before or after the fire started.
“Our investigators responded and they began processing the scene, but ultimately it will be the medical examiner who will determine the cause of death,” said Sgt. Dillon Quirk with the Oklahoma City Police Department. “And right now, we don’t know for certain a cause for the fire, either.”
Fire department investigators and police homicide unit personnel were in the early stages piecing together what happened, and anyone with relevant information is encouraged to contact the Homicide Tip Line at 405-297-1200.
It was the second fire-related fatality in three days for Oklahoma City, after firefighters found an unresponsive adult male inside a burning home at the 4900 block of NW 32 St early Saturday.
Douglas said any time a traumatic death occurs on duty, the fire department’s emergency personnel
undergo a “diffusing,” or counseling session. If a situation is particularly difficult, critical incident stress management teams are available for the service of the firefighter, and the employee is temporarily taken off-duty.
“Everybody handles it differently,” Douglas said.
“Some guys handle it OK, or pretend like they do.
“But over the past several years, they’ve really invested a lot of time and energy into classes for our critical incident stress management team. I think that’s really helped our department a lot.”