4 dogs killed in Trotwood fire; neighbors say they’re devastated for the family

TROTWOOD — A neighbor is providing more information about a house fire in Trotwood.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

TRENDING STORIES:

• 22 Ohio counties declared ‘natural disaster areas’ due to drought
• Shooter kills 4 at a Georgia high school and a suspect is in custody, officials say
• Man facing federal child porn charges to stay in jail before trial; new details revealed

3:00 a.m., that’s what time Sharon Kelly woke up Tuesday morning. She lives on Lorimer Street and someone was banging on her door.

“The man said everyone needs to get out because they didn’t know if the fire wasn’t going to spread,” Kelly said.

Flames had taken over Kelly’s next-door neighbor’s home

She told News Center 7 that she’s close with the family of five whose home went up in flames.

“They’re really nice people,” she said.

Kelly admitted that she was even closer to one of the family’s four dogs.

“Socks. His name was Socks,” she said. “I shedded a tear. It hurt my husband and I. He was a good dog, a really good dog.”

Socks, and three other dogs, died in the fire but the family was able to get out.

The Trotwood Fire Department posted photos of the scene from Tuesday morning. Firefighters have not yet said what caused the fire but did say the house did not appear to have working smoke detectors.

“It tears me apart,” Kelly said. “What are they going to do now? I don’t know.”

News Center 7′s Gabrielle Enright took a closer look at the backyard on Wednesday. She thought she heard something moving and then discovered a pig.

As reported on News Center 7 at 5:00, a spokesperson for the Trotwood Fire Department said they knew about the pig and that it was a family pet.

That led us to check with the city’s zoning department to see if the city had any kind of ordinance or policy for pigs. The city said people are not allowed to have livestock in city limits, but the city said the family claimed it was a companion animal. They city is waiting on paperwork to verify that.

[SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]