GRAND FORKS (AP) - The residents of a Grand Forks house where a fire killed a woman and 19 small dogs had been warned that city pet laws were being broken.

Animal control officer Wilbur Speaker says he had been to the house to address complaints of barking dogs and too many dogs living at a residence. He says city law allows residents to have no more than two dogs older than 6 months in a single-family dwelling.

The fire was reported late Wednesday. Eighty-five-year-old Georgette Essery was killed. Authorities say Essery lived with her 61-year-old daughter, who wasn't home at the time of the fire.

The cause of the blaze is still under investigation.