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Ft. Lauderdale Suspected Grow House Up In Smoke

FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) – A house suspected of growing marijuana went up in smoke and flames Sunday night after a transformer blew, according to the Broward Sheriff's Office.

While BSO firefighters were responding to the emergency, a neighbor also responded.

"And we heard like a plane crash, like what!" said neighbor Wendy Bonilla about the sounds coming from the burning home. "And the roof just came out completely."

In back of the house in the 2200 block of SW 44th Avenue were three dogs, Bonilla said.

"I ran inside, I opened the door and I screamed, 'is anybody in there?' There was no response," she said.

Bonilla heard the dogs crying from the backyard, but she could not reach all of them because of the live wires from the blown transformer.

Animal Control officers took two of the dogs out of the fire-damaged home, and Bonilla took another.

The person living inside the home showed up while the house was ablaze, and promised Bonilla he would return for his pets, but hasn't, she said.

"He's going to be another one that we find a home for, foster him, and get him some medical care in the meantime," she said.

Bonilla, who walks her dogs every morning, said she is amazed to learn what was going on inside the house in her normally calm, quiet neighborhood.

"It was a very quiet home, you don't hear anything, but it's crazy in there," she said. "It's surprising because you never know what goes on around your neighborhood."

(©2011 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. )

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