OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — A woman whose home was heavily damaged by a fire earlier this year says the contractor she paid $60k to make repairs took her money and never finished the work, and now the money her insurance gave her for temporary housing is almost gone.
To make matters worse, in the months following the fire, the woman’s two brothers and only child suddenly passed away on separate occasions.
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Cheryl McIntire replays it all in her head just about every day.
“It was scary,” McIntire said. “And I’m really afraid of fire.”
It was the morning of March 17, when her worst fear became reality. The northeast Oklahoma City home she’d proudly owned for more than 50 years, was in flames.
“My daughter came running out of her room into my room and said ‘my bedroom’s on fire,’” McIntire said. “It was so smoky.”
She and her daughter, Niki, barely made it out alive. Unfortunately, one of their dogs did not make it out.
“[Niki] scorched the top of her hair and everything, trying to get the dog,” McIntire said. “I didn’t want my purse to burn. And so I came running back in the house past the firemen and grabbed my purse. And by the time I turned around to come back out, I had to feel my way out… I had to go to the hospital because I had too much smoke inhalation”