Rancho Cordova Couple And 17 Pets Die In Early Morning House Fire
RANCHO CORDOVA (CBS13) — An elderly woman's cries for help could be heard by neighbors as flames engulfed her Rancho Cordova home early Sunday morning.
Firefighters later found the bodies of the woman and her husband.
"You could hear the dogs barking and the lady screaming for help, but we couldn't do anything," said neighbor Skyla Rivera.
Fire crews responded to the home on Georgetown Drive around 4 a.m.
"The screams were 'help, help, help,' " said Rivera.
Rivera is still shaken at the site of her neighbor pleading to be saved.
"The glass kept shattering and the flames were everywhere, and it was hard to breath. There was just so much smoke," she said.
The smoke and fire overwhelmed Arlene and Leon Johnson along with the couple's 17 pets -- four dogs, three cats and 10 birds.
It took fire fighters nearly 15 minutes to douse the flames; but by then it was too late to save anyone trapped inside.
"There was a smoke detector but there was no battery in it," said Metro Fire Captain Kim Fong. "The smoke alone is not going to wake you up. It's the smoke detector that is actually going to wake you up."
Fong says a working smoke detector in the home would have given the couple a chance to get out of the house before it was too late.
"It's so sad; they are such a nice couple," said another neighbor.
A neighbor says the couple leaves two daughters and grandchildren behind. The Johnsons apparently moved to this neighborhood in 1971 and had lived at this home ever since.
"We weren't able to get her out. I wish I could have done something more," said Rivera.
More than a dozen of the couple's pets also died in the early morning fire.
