Two dogs perish in fire extinguished by residents of home in north Modesto
Residents of a house in north Modesto arrived home Tuesday afternoon to find a still-smoldering fire in their living room, the Modesto Fire Department reported. They were able to extinguish the fire, but found their two dogs had died from smoke inhalation.
Just before 4:30 p.m., firefighters were dispatched on a report of a potential structure fire on the 3000 block of Portobello Drive, just north of Standiford Avenue between McHenry Avenue and Tully Road. Crews arrived to find that what a battalion chief called “a significant fire” in the living room of the house had been put out by the residents.
The residents had gotten home after being out, opened the front door, saw the smoke and located a small fire still burning, which they doused with a bucket of water, Battalion Chief Jesse Nicasio said Wednesday morning.
They found their two dogs dead in the walk-in closet of a back bedroom, where the pets apparently had taken shelter, he said.
The fire hadn’t spread beyond the living room, he said, but moderate to heavy smoke had filled the home. The fire remains under investigation, Nicasio said, but perhaps had run out of oxygen or fuel, causing it to largely burn itself out.
The Stanislaus Regional Fire Investigation Unit is working to determine the cause and origin, which might have been something burning in the home’s fireplace.
The residents of the house were not injured.
