BROWNSBURG, Ind. --
Two people were killed early Monday morning in a house fire in Hendricks County in which numerous cats also perished.
The fire broke out at about 5:20 a.m. at a home in the 7500 block of East County Road 300 North, just east of Indiana 267.
A neighbor who was on her way to work spotted flames and called authorities.
"She went and knocked on the windows and doors and couldn't get anybody's attention," said neighbor Dawn Mullen. "The fire got too bad, and she had to get out of there."
"When crews arrived, they saw heavy smoke and fire at the front door and the porch fully involved," said Brownsburg fire Lt. Stephanie Martindale.
The victims, whose identities weren't immediately released, were found upstairs.
Neighbors told investigators that the homeowner ran a cat refuge at the home and that her brother also lived in the home.
"(We found) mostly cats, one dog," Martindale said. "Only four of those cats survived. Animal control has those cats right now."
Investigators had to wait for a search warrant to go inside the home in an effort to determine what sparked the blaze, Martindale said. Fire officials weren't sure if there were working smoke detectors in the home.
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