Pups presumed perished after fire

LYNN – Fire gutted a Highlands home?s second floor Thursday morning, killing four adult dogs, according to the city?s animal control officer, and leaving four puppies missing and presumed dead.Keith Sheppard said 14 Rantoul Ave. will be searched for a missing cat belonging to owner Olden Romero and his parents, and Sheppard said two birds and two turtles survived the 10:23 a.m. fire in the house on a side street near the Ford School.District Fire Chief Stephen Archer on Thursday afternoon said the fire?s cause is “underdetermined as of right now,” and said American Red Cross workers are aiding Romero and his parents in obtaining temporary shelter and other help.?Firefighters found flames coming out of a second-floor window when they arrived and a power line dropped, causing access problems,” Archer said.He said an electrical line called a “main service feed” disconnected from the house and dropped to the ground in front of it, forcing firefighters to work around the line by fighting the fire from 14 Rantoul?s side and rear walls.Archer said the power line at this time is not considered by investigators to be a factor in the fire?s cause.The Romeros were not at home when the fire started, but neighbors, afraid someone might be in the home, ran to it and banged on the front door. Raquel Alvarado lives two houses down from 14 Rantoul and called the 911 emergency line after spotting smoke coming from the Romero house.?I saw smoke coming from the second floor. I tried to open the door, then the window exploded,” Alvarado said.She described Rantoul Avenue, a narrow side street on one of the Highlands? highest vistas, as home to neighbors who look out for each other.Sheppard said the four puppies are presumed dead because of their extremely young age.?They were probably not more than six inches in size,” he said.Olden Romero arrived at his home Thursday morning as firefighters were completing efforts to extinguish the fire. He said he lived in 14 Rantoul for six years.?I have no idea what to do,” he said.