Investigation underway after 4 dogs die in Milford car fire

There are lots of questions surrounding the deaths of four dogs in Milford after the parked car the animals were left in caught fire, killing them all. It happened Monday just before midnight on Adams Avenue, a small residential street.

“It got a little loud,” said Nathan Roumanis, who described the neighborhood as typically uneventful. “I was sleeping. I woke up to hearing some of the booms when the gas tank went up or whatever it was—something ignited.”

Roumanis said he came outside and saw a car parked in one his neighbor’s driveways was engulfed in flames. Firefighters were already on scene.

“They quickly deployed a hose line, very quickly got water on it and extinguished the body of fire relatively quickly,” explained Battalion Chief Adam Hansen. “After extinguishment, they started to open up the vehicle.” Hansen said firefighters on scene were told by the car’s owner that there were dogs inside the car. Unfortunately, none of the four survived.

“We immediately contacted the Fire Marshal’s Office. They sent a representative immediately out to the scene, started the investigation, and at this point, the investigation is still ongoing,” Hansen explained.

He declined to release additional information, including about the owner of the car and dogs, due to the ongoing investigation.

The burned vehicle was still parked in the same home’s driveway on Wednesday, now covered by a tarp.

News 12 spoke with a woman who lives there. She was visibly upset and didn’t want to talk on camera, but said the car belongs to a friend who stopped by Monday night and left his dogs in the car when he came inside.

According to the woman, he was only there for 25 to 30 minutes when they heard crackling and popping and realized his car was on fire.

The woman told News 12 her friend tried to save the dogs, but the flames had quickly spread. She also said he told her there was a prior electrical issue with the car.

But what started the fire isn't the only question.

“Dogs shouldn't be there. It's midnight. Why are the dogs in the car? And that's the big thing about this for everybody. Why were the dogs in the car at midnight? Why were there four dogs in the car? Something's not right there,” Roumanis said. “We're hoping something gets done about that because that's a bad situation and shouldn’t happen.”

Another neighbor told News 12 it wasn’t the first time that car was parked in the driveway with dogs left inside.