Three dogs killed, two people injured in Atascadero fire

September 5, 2021

BY KAREN VELIE

Three dogs were killed and two people injured in a fire at a home in Atascadero on Sunday morning.

Shortly after 9 a.m., callers reported a residential fire at 8660 Portola Road. With flames spreading, nine occupants fled the single-family home, while three of their four dogs remained inside, according to the Atascadero Fire Department.

Upon arrival, firefighters found a single-story home with heavy smoke and fire showing from a rear corner of the residence.

It took firefighters approximately 90 minutes to extinguish the blaze. Firefighters found three deceased dogs inside the home.

Medical personnel treated one of the residents for smoke inhalation and another for lacerations to an arm.

Fire crews remained on the scene for salvage operations and investigation for approximately two and a half hours. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

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slo-to-load

09/06/2021 7:50 pm

Condolences for the sad loss of the three dogs.

However… “nine occupants fled the single-family home”? That sounds like way too many for a single family home! Look at a street view of the property and you will see 4 vehicles sitting in the back yard and at least 10 in the front yard, many clearly disabled. The side yard has numerous junk and trash piles. The outside basically looks like a hoarder’s paradise, so you can only imagine what it looks like inside. That all points to numerous code violations. I wouldn’t be surprised if they found multiple fire hazards plus inadequate or non-functioning smoke detectors, since none of the 9 occupants had enough warning to rescue those poor dogs. If negligent code violations led to the rapid spread of this fire, an animal cruelty charge for the deaths of the three dogs seems entirely appropriate.