UPDATED 3:29 p.m.

RADFORD -- Neighbors remember Alma Mae Jackson as someone who mostly kept to herself, but also seemed to be keeping an eye on her West Street neighborhood during her daily strolls with the black dog who was her constant companion.

"It's good to have someone like that," said Keith Maretta, who lived several doors away from Jackson.

Early this morning, Jackson and her dog died in a fire that destroyed the home in which she'd lived her entire life.

Another neighbor, Donna Nichols, said that as firefighters tried to determine if anyone was in the blazing, two-story structure, she and others hoped that Jackson was out for a late-night walk. But that proved not to be the case. Jackson, 49, and her dog were found in the structure. They had lived there by themselves.

Radford Fire Chief Lee Simpkins said fire crews were called to the 1700 block of West Street at 1:12 a.m. and got to the house within four minutes. Three fire engines, 24 firefighters, city electrical department workers, and city and Radford University police all were eventually involved in the attempt to extinguish the fire, which consumed the house and warped the vinyl siding on a nearby home.

While the fire was under control within an hour of firefighters' arrival, crews remained on the scene until about 5:30 a.m., Simpkins said. Virginia State Police assisted with an investigation that determined the fire was not of suspicious origin, but could not pinpoint its precise cause.