70-Year-Old Woman And 2 Dogs Die In Early Morning House Fire In Fort Worth
UPDATED: January 22, 2020 11:12 AM
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - A 70-year-old woman and two of her dogs died in an early morning house fire in Fort Worth on January 22.
It was 4:30 a.m. when crews were called to the home in the 2100 block of Hudson Street. When firefighters arrived they found only light smoke coming from the house, but once inside heavy fire was in the front room.
Victim Jan Reynolds Davis and two of her dogs were found in the back of the house. Davis' family is still trying to locate a third dog that belonged to her.
Firefighters reported they did not hear alarms going off when they made entry. "You're not gonna smell smoke and wake up," said Fort Worth Fire Department spokesman Kyle Clay. "It's important to have those things to wake you up when we're sleeping."
It didn't take long for firefighters to extinguish the 1-alarm blaze, but crews stayed at the scene for hours putting out hot spots.
Investigators haven't determined what sparked the fire, but believe the smoke and flames spread easily because all of the interior door of the house were open. "It's important to have those barriers in between… fire starts in the front of the house, block it, make sure it doesn't get in that room with you," Clay said.
"She was a happy neighbor," Charles McLaughlin said. "She's nice, real sweet."
Jan Davis' neighbors said not only was she well known in the neighborhood, she was well liked. And always had a smile on her face.
"It's always sad," McLaughlin said. "I mean you consider it to be a tragedy when they're active and they're in the neighborhood and they're with other people and things like that.. and well liked, she was as friendly as can be."
"She was always greeting people," Estela Martinez said. "She was really nice."
Estela Martinez, another one of Davis' neighbors, said every Christmas she'd show up at her door.
"For Christmas, she would come and bring a basket of goodies -- cookies, candies.. things like that," Martinez said.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.