The resident whose house caught fire Saturday morning clutches a group of kittens found in the basement.

WARSAW — A woman whose house caught fire Saturday morning, June 8, sat in a chair outside her scorched home and clutched three scared bundles of joy as she grieved for the loss of her miniature pinscher dog who died in the blaze.

The woman, who lives at 425 S. Indiana Street was mourning the loss of her small dog and was being consoled by her husband and neighbors. In her arms were three kittens that were found in the basement of her home by firefighters. Neighbors at the scene said the woman didn’t know the kittens were in her home and that they were kittens that belonged to a feral cat that roamed the neighborhood.

Firefighters from Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory confirmed that the dog did not survive the fire and a neighbor said he was afraid of that. “I heard the dog stop barking,” he said. The woman’s husband was at work when Kosciusko County Central Dispatch called out for firefighters around 6:30 a.m. When the call was made, flames were seen shooting from the north side of the house. Dispatchers radioed back to firefighters a few minutes later and reported everyone was out of the house but the family dog.

Firefighters called for utility company support to deal with electrical issues and called for a company to come board up seven windows and one door.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.