Woman, two dogs dead in Johns Creek house fire

A woman was killed Monday in a predawn fire that ripped through a Johns Creek home.

The fire was reported shortly before 6 a.m. at a home on Summer Crest Court, in a neighborhood off Haynes Bridge Road, Johns Creek fire Chief Jeff Hogan said.

He said firefighters arrived about five minutes later to find the split-level house fully involved in flames from an “extreme, very hot fire.”

Hogan told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that once the fire was knocked down, crews found the victim dead in the living room area, about 15 feet from the front door.

Two dogs were also found dead inside the home, he said.

The identity of the woman killed had not been confirmed early Monday afternoon, according to the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s office.

Investigators do not know how the fire started, or whether there were working smoke detectors, Hogan said.

Neighbor Kim Dean said a woman in her 50s had lived in the home for more than 20 years.

“She was a great lady, did a lot of volunteer work,” Dean said. “She lived life quite large – quite the personality, touched a lot of people in a lot of ways.”

The neighborhood is a small one where most residents have “been here quite a while,” Dean said.

“We tend to know each other and watch out for each other,” she said. “It’s kind of old-school.”