SCRANTON — Two pet dogs died in a late morning fire at an apartment building in West Scranton, authorities said.
Tenants of one apartment in the front half of the two-unit building at 311 N. Lincoln Ave. got out safely with their pet dog, Assistant Fire Chief Brian Scott said.
Tenants in the apartment in the rear of the building were not home, but two dogs perished in that unit on the second floor, he said.
The fire was reported around 11:25 a.m. on 911 emergency radio communications.
A neighbor reported the fire as flames going through the roof, Scott said.
“On the way in, we had a report of possible entrapment,” but searches confirmed that no people were inside, Scott said.
“We just got a quick knock on it,” Scott said of the Fire Department’s response. “There was a lot of heavy smoke when we first pulled up, but we got it under control pretty quick.”
Firefighters putting out the fire rapidly saved the structure and prevented it from becoming a conflagration threatening to ignite neighboring homes in the tight block, he said.
“The crews did a great job,” Scott said. “We got it knocked down before it got any worse or extended to any structures around it.”
The cause of the fire is under investigation, he said.
The building is not immediately habitable from the incident and the Red Cross was expected to assist the displaced residents, Scott said.
Doreen Epps, who has lived in the apartment in the front half of the building for over a year, said she was alerted to the fire by her pet Yorkie, Lola. She and two of her young children who were home at the time all got out safely with their dog, Epps said. Her neighbors’ dogs that perished in the rear unit were pit bulls, she said.
“I heard the dog barking and I wanted to see why it kept barking, and I saw the smoke coming through the (wall) seam of the (upstairs) bathroom,” Epps said.
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