An elderly Tucker Road resident has been hospitalized after her house went up in flames on Monday morning, resulting in the death of her dog and extensive property damage.

There were no other people in the house, according to Dartmouth Fire District No. 2 Chief Tim Andre.

All three of Dartmouth’s fire districts responded to a 911 call about the blaze at 673 Tucker Road at around 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 28.

“Once we arrived on scene, we found a fully involved house,” Andre said, adding that although firefighters initially stopped the blaze within 10-12 minutes, an attic space continued to burn until crews gained access to put it out.

“We were more trying to focus on seeing if the residents were in there,” he noted. 

The woman’s current condition is unclear, although Andre said that she still alive when she was taken out of the building. “Hopefully she does well,” he added. 

Her son was notified and was expected at the scene later that morning.

Neighbor Tony Sousa said that he and his wife Tracy noticed the fire from a window and made the call.

“Our dog started barking, barking, barking, and we didn’t know why,” said Tracy. “And [Tony] went to the window and looked out, and was like ‘Oh my God, call 911, the house is on fire!’”

“He ran over and kicked the doors in while I was calling 911,” she continued. “We were screaming.”

“We knew there was an old lady in there, I just didn’t hear her,” said Tony. “The smoke was unbelievable. When I kicked in the front door, I was trying to call out to her...I didn’t hear anything inside the house. Hopefully she’s okay.”

“The fire department did a great job, they came in and they took care of business, because that’s what they do. Pure professionals,” he added.

State fire marshals are conducting an investigation into the cause of the fire.

According to Andre, officials do not believe the blaze was intentional.

“It was pretty much in the forward half of the house, where they had the Christmas trees and decorations,” he noted, before thanking Fire Districts 1 and 3 for their quick response.

“[It’s] tragic for the holidays,” he said of the incident. “Houses can be replaced. Families can’t.”