Family pets killed in fire
Posted on Wednesday, April 23, 2008
The cause of fires that destroyed two Benton County homes in March and April will likely go undetermined, the county fire marshal said.
A suspicious fire destroyed an old, abandoned house in Benton County on March 23. The two- or three-story house at 15156 Old Highway 68 sat west of Robinson Road.
On April 4, a plywood home with a metal roof was destroyed at 3990 S. Elm St. The home was just outside the city limits.
Two pit bulls were killed in the Old Arkansas Highway 68 blaze, said Lylna Thao, whose parents own the property. They were family pets.
“ I cried and cried for them, ” Thao said. “ My younger brother found their bodies after the firemen put the fire out. My poor dogs were burned alive crying for help. ”
Will Hanna, Benton County fire marshal, said the investigation has been turned over to the Benton County Sheriff’s Office because illegal activity allegedly took place at the home.
“ It keeps coming back to a caliber of folks doing illegal activity, ” Hanna said.
The Thaos moved from Minnesota in summer 2003 and purchased a 10-acre farm, which included the home that burned, Thao said.
Tenants were living in the home at the time but did not pay rent. They were asked to leave and did so without cleaning up.
“ There was just trash everywhere, ” she said.
The back door wouldn’t shut because of the amount of trash.
“ We just left it, ” Thao said. “ Sometimes dogs would go in there. ”
Thao, who now lives in Bentonville and attends Northwest Arkansas Community College, said she is upset about the fire.
“ I just feel like somebody’s messing around with our farm, ” she said.
Her parents had 200 goats when they purchased the farm and now have only 70.
“ I’m sick of these disrespectful people around here, ” Thao said.
People likely were “ camping out” in the home while it was vacant, Hanna said.
Hanna said the cause of the fire will likely go undetermined unless new information is revealed.
“ I suspect it is an undetermined fire, ” he said.
The Elm Street fire will probably remain undetermined also.
In both fires, the homes were without insurance.
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