In March 2025, wildfires swept through Mannford, Oklahoma, driven by high winds of up to 85mph. Tyler Buttram and his wife were in Eureka Springs when friends and family called to tell them their house was in danger.
“The fire got hot enough that it blew out our bedroom window and the inside of the house started filling with smoke,” Tyler said. “[But] they were able to save our house.”
To clean up the smoke damage, he and his wife turned to Burggraf.
“They did exceptional work. We didn’t have to worry about anything.”
What happened when the fires started?
My wife and I were out of town and some fires started on the south side of Mannford and worked their way into town.
They were able to save our house, but we sustained some pretty good smoke damage.
The fire got hot enough that it blew out our bedroom window, and the inside of the house started filling with smoke and caused a lot of damage.
We were very fortunate, especially considering how many others in the community lost everything.
So we are very grateful to everybody that helped save our home. Thank you to all of the surrounding cities and different volunteer fire departments that came in to assist.
When did you find out about the fire?
We had left town to go to Eureka Springs with some friends, and so we were just having fun that day. And we started getting fire alerts on our phone.
We had friends that called and said, “Hey, the fire’s getting close to town. Do you want us to run to your house and get anything?”
And honestly, we were reluctant just because we never in a million years dreamed it would actually move into town.
So we said, “We appreciate it. Thank you very much for checking on us. We’re out of town. If anything changes, our doors are unlocked, just go in and start grabbing stuff.”
What happened when the fire got closer?
A little bit later that evening, we got some more phone calls and found out [the fire] had moved into town. We had a lot of really good friends and family come over and grab a lot of the valuables and a bunch of other stuff that they thought we might want. They just started throwing it in trash bags and hauling stuff out of the house for us.
That’s the moment that it got really real.
What did you do when you found out the fires were heading for your house?
We both wanted to go home, but we knew there was nothing we could do at that time. We were a few hours away, so by the time we would’ve gotten home, either a) it would’ve been too late or b) we just would’ve been in the way and there’s no way they would’ve led us to our house at that point anyways.
We did get conflicting stories, obviously from people that cared about us. So it was quite an emotional rollercoaster for a little while.
It’s like, “Hey, we’re pretty certain your house is gone.” A little bit later it was, “no, your house is okay.” And then a little bit later it was, “I’m so sorry, but I think your house is gone.” So it was back and forth.
In the end we had a home, for which we were very, very grateful. It’s a great blessing.
For us it was just an inconvenience, versus so many others who truly lost everything.
How did you connect with Burggraf? Why did you choose them?
So Burggraf is a very reputable restoration company that has been around for many years, and they have always been very good to the community.
They sponsor different Little League programs. They sponsor other events in town. They live in the community. They understand the importance of giving back to others.
Anytime my wife and I spend money, we try to spend it with like-minded business folks. I felt like it was very important that we used a local company that both had a great reputation and understood the importance of giving to others.
What was their plan of recovery?
Everybody that we spoke with was very honest and upfront with us. There was obviously a lot of devastation throughout town. The schools took a big impact.
So we called Burggraf, they came out, sat down with us, and explained how the process works, ’cause I mean, we’ve never been through something like this before, so we didn’t even know where to begin.
And it was really neat because they walked us through step by step what we needed to do and then what they would then do.
How did the entire community rebuilding at once affect your project?
They were very clear on their timeline, which I really appreciated. They weren’t going to come tomorrow and start rebuilding for us. That’s not how it works. I like how they put their main focus on the schools, so that they could get the schools back up and operational.
And then they said, “As soon as we’re done with that, we’ll be here to put you back together.” So I really appreciated the honesty. The fact we had to wait another week didn’t bother me at all.
How else did they help?
Burggraf did a great job of making all the arrangements with the textile company to come and bag all of our clothes. They actually had that company come and meet us on site so we could walk through and they said, “Hey, pick out enough clothes for a couple weeks. We’re gonna call that your emergency pile and we’re gonna get those turned around and back to you ASAP. The rest is gonna take time.” We appreciated that.
And then they made sure to be there while our insurance company was on site as well. So whenever they told us to call our insurance company, get something scheduled, I thought it was really neat that they took the time to come out, too. That way everybody was on the same page.
What was it like when you got back to your house?
Everything was just as we had hoped for. In fact, it was, it was better.
There’s a gentleman there by the name of Jason who handles the kind of the carpentry side of things; he is a super neat guy and we talked to him about what our expectations were and then he laid out the plan from there.
He was very honest and upfront with us and did a really good job with working around our schedule. And then they did just exceptional work. We didn’t have to worry about anything.
If anybody is ever in an unfortunate situation where you have to pick up the phone and call a restoration company, I would hope that you would call Burggraf.
When There’s Smoke, Call Burggraf.
If your home or business has been damaged by fire or smoke, give Burggraf a call at 918-584-3737 and we’ll get you cleaned up fast.