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TULSA WORLD, SATURDAY, APRIL 15, 1995

90-Year-Old Man Injured in Blaze Dies

By Tim Hoover
World Staff Writer

The 90-year-old disabled man rescued by neighbors from a blaze at his north Tulsa home Thursday died Friday evening from the severe burns he suffered in the fire, hospital officials said.

Martin Colbert had suffered third-degree burns over 60 percent of his body, officials said, and had been in critical condition since he was admitted. He died just after 9 p.m. Friday, a nursing supervisor said. Colbert's 2-year-old great-grandaughter, Sydney Courtney, was released from Hillcrest Medical Center on Friday.

She had been hospitalized Thursday after suffering from severe smoke inhalation. 

The only things besides the child to survive the fire at 1118 E. 52nd St. North unharmed were the food the Colberts planned to give away to needy families and a framed verse from the Bible, said Colbert's daughter, Lorene Brown.

Fighting flames and breaking windows, neighbors had rescued Colbert and assisted firefighters in rescuing the girl from the burning house. Firefighters still do not know what caused the blaze, but Brown said the fire may have started while her 2-year-old grandniece was playing with a lighter.

The house, which was destroyed, also was the headquarters for Colbert Community Resource, a family-operated, nonprofit community outreach program.

Brown, 47, said the organization provides low-cost day care and free canned and dried foods to needy families. The food, kept in a converted garage at the house, survived the fire with only smoke damage to some cans. 

Except for a framed verse from the Bible, all the family's other possessions in the house were destroyed. An insurance policy covered the contents of the home, but the house itself was not insured, Brown said.

Brown said she is living at another house in the neighborhood, which the family uses for the day-care center. The food at the burned house also has been moved to the day-care center, she said.

Brown said the charitable operations will continue.

Colbert, disabled as a child by the loss of one leg when a tree fell on him, got the family involved in helping others years ago, Brown said. 

Known as "Pa Pa" to neighborhood children, Colbert asked grocers to give bruised fruits and damaged canned goods to hungry families, Brown said.

"I used to fuss about why he was always giving food to people, and here I am doing the same thing now," she said.