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Inside, fire officials discovered the bodies of 65-year-old Kay Allen and her Jack Russell terrier, Curly Bob, inside.
Friday was Allen's birthday.
"Bad. Really bad. It's not much left of the structure," a fire official said.
Neighbors said the blaze overtook the sky early Friday morning, about 5 a.m., knocking out power to nearby homes.
"The whole horizon ... I come out that door and was coming out to go to work and everything was lit up," a neighbor said. "I knew something was bad going on."
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Allen's children were too heartbroken to talk on camera, but told ABC11 they live right next door to their mother.
They heard a loud boom this morning and when they looked out the window, they saw her home fully engulfed in flames.
Her daughter, who had just seen her mother a few hours before the fire, made the 911 call.
"She was a sweet lady," the neighbor said. "She was a good neighbor."
Family members said Allen had a sense of humor unlike any other, and she loved her dog Curly Bob and was fond of Coca-Cola.
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"Praying for the family," the neighbor said. "Everybody is just trying to come together and see what they can do to help. It's a bad situation."
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
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