Elkin fire officials Tuesday afternoon were still investigating the cause of a morning blaze that left a family of three homeless.

The Oakland Drive home of Teresa Osborne and her two sons was heavily damaged by smoke and flames around 9:30. No one was home at the time. The family dog perished in the blaze.

"We have nothing. We have nothing," Osborne said as she watched firefighters work on the smoking structure. "All our pictures are in there."

Friends of her older son, Tyler Sanborn, a star basketball player at Elkin High School and now Guilford College, spotted smoke coming from the eves of the house and called Fire Chief Tommy Wheeler.

"We were working at the (Municipal) Rec Center and went to get something to eat," Corey Moore.

Moore and Seth Crater traveled up Oakland from the Rec toward Bridge Street when they noticed the smoke. "It was coming out the eves." Some flames became visible through a window on the back of the house, Moore said.

Sanborn was at work when the fire occurred.

Osborne said she had been in house a short time before the fire but had also left. "There was no smell of smoke or heat or anything," she said.

Her younger son was in school.

The incident was the second confrontation with a house fire that Osborne has faced. At the age of 9, her family home near Traphill burned.

Friends and family members showed up at the scene to comfort them. Younger friends of Tyler, arrived to throw and arm around his shoulder and offer words of concern.

Osborne said she and the boys could stay with some of her family members.

The incident was also cause for high emotions from property owner, Teresa Smith.

Smith owns the house with her brother David. There mother lived in the house for about six years after their father died. "There are a lot of memories here," Smith said.

She was also concerned for her brother who lost his business to fire just a few weeks ago. "How much can one man take?

She admitted to a variety of emotions surrounding the tragedy. "I feel so guilty for feeling that way, for myself. They have lost their home and everything," Smith said.