Police investigating living arrangements after fire

Slaton Police are investigating the living arrangements of several people at a property without utilities after an early morning fire last week.

The property, located at 1310 Scott Street, caught fire around 4 a.m. Thursday. When first responders arrived they found a 63-year-old female and 17 dogs, including 11 newborn puppies. Slaton firefighters resuscitated several of the animals that suffered from smoke inhalation.

Another tenant, the son of the female, was not at home when the fire started. According to police, he is a home health care worker who was supposed to care for his mother.  The 63-year-old woman is on oxygen, and investigators met with Adult Protective Services Tuesday afternoon.

The Red Cross provided assistance to the family and had planned to help them relocate, but the tenants refused.

The cause of the fire is unknown and police did not release the names of any of the tenants.

Read more in this week’s edition of The Slatonite.