Two men were found slain this morning after firefighters extinguished a blaze in a northeast Dallas apartment.

The fire was reported shortly after 4 a.m. at the Villa Jolla apartments in the 11200 block of Woodmeadow Parkway, near Ferguson Road and LBJ Freeway.

Firefighters arrived to find smoke coming from the two-story building and quickly put out the blaze, which was contained to a first-floor apartment.

“”Thank God they came soon enough to keep it from spreading,”” said Alex Williams, a neighbor who’s known the victims for four years.

Inside the unit, firefighters found the two men dead, but not as a result of the fire. Authorities are investigating their deaths as homicides.

The men, ages 59 and 61, have not been identified, pending notification of their next of kin. Their cause of death has yet to be determined.

Neighbors said the older man was disabled and the other man was his caretaker.

“”They were the sweetest people,”” said Melody Johnson, who lives with Williams and their child.

Williams said the victims’ apartment had an alarm and surveillance system and that the younger victim would never open the door to someone he didn’t know.

“”I hope they catch them, whoever it was,”” he said.

Police said the vehicle of one of the victims was missing. A description of the vehicle was not released.

The cause of the fire was under investigation.