A structure fire Thursday evening at a house in the 1300 block of SE Fifth Avenue destroyed the residence of an Oak Harbor couple and killed two of their pets.

Oak Harbor Fire Lt. Ray Merrill said no one was home at the time the department received the call at approximately 8:43 p.m.

“We received numerous calls and we arrived within about three minutes,” Merrill said Friday morning. “No one was home at the time but unfortunately, two dogs inside the residence perished.”

Merrill said the Oak Harbor Fire Department sent two engine companies, a ladder truck, all the investigative equipment and auxiliary personnel to the scene of the blaze.

“The fire started in the garage, but we don’t have a definitive answer to why it started,” Merrill said. “The incident is still under investigation, that’s where we stand right now.”

Homeowners Rachel and Danny Massengille were both absent from the residence at the time the fire broke out.

“My husband was at work and I was out with a friend,” Rachel Massengille said. “The whole house is ruined.”

The interior of the residence was gutted and firefighters had to cut into the roof to extinguish hot spots in the insulation.

In addition to the majority of contents of the house being destroyed, a 2008 Yamaha motorcycle stored in the garage was also totalled.