MANNFORD, Okla. — Friends are mourning the loss of their classmate, a 15-year-old Mannford boy, who was killed in an early-morning fire on Feb. 24.
The fire started just before 5:00 am in a condo near Mannford Public Schools. The boy and his grandmother were the only ones home. Investigators have not yet released the boy's name.
Neighbors say the grandmother got out, calling for help for her grandson, but he never escaped. Funeral service details for the Mannford boy were announced in a GoFundMe page that was created to help the grandmother and family.
His friends remember him as a good friend, "energetic" and someone who got along with everyone. Now, they're trying to cope with the sudden loss.
"We walked over here and saw the burnt apartment and then we started bawling," one friend said. "It feels like it's unreal."
Friends are left missing the boy, after making plans to spend time together after school on the day he died.
"We were going to hang out, we were going to have him stay the night yesterday,"one friend said. "We planned on hanging out with him after school today, like for him to come over to my house over there. But it happened, so I was crying because I didn't get to see him. Last time I saw him was five days ago," said another.
The condo next door to the family was also destroyed. The family got out in time, but lost everything.
The family is Tyler Coffey, his pregnant wife Ashton, and their 18-month-old son. Tyler says they escaped with only the clothes on their backs. They have set up a fundraiser, which you can find here.
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The Mannford fire chief confirmed the person who died in a Mannford fire this morning was a teenage boy.
Crews received a call of a structure fire just before 5 a.m. on Monday.
Two condos were damaged in the fire, police say.
The woman who escaped has minor burns and was on oxygen, says the fire chief. The oxygen tanks are what fed the fire.
Mannford police and fire as well as Freedom Hill Fire all responded to the scene.
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