An early morning fire swept through an Aberdeen home on West Marion Street on Thursday, destroying the property and killing two dogs in the residence.

The resident escaped without injury, said Battalion Chief Troy Palmer of the Aberdeen Fire Department, but was unable to get back in to save his dogs.

The initial call came at 1:55 a.m. for a structure fire, Palmer said in a news release. The resident later stated that he was alerted to the fire by the barking of his dogs, who were kenneled in another part of the house, Palmer said. The resident escaped out the back door, Palmer said, but unfortunately left the door open, which can fuel the flames. When he got to the front of the house where the dogs were, the fire had already blown the windows out and engulfed the room.

Initial firefighters on scene reported the house was fully ablaze and the nearby houses were threatened.

“We were very close to losing that exposure,” Palmer said. “We got water on it fairly quick.”

The fire was escalated to a second alarm, Palmer said, with Hoquiam and Fire District 2 reinforcing Aberdeen. Crews locked down the spread of the fire to surrounding homes, eventually extinguishing the fire.

The house, which had no smoke alarms, is a complete loss. The investigation into the cause is ongoing, Palmer said.

AFD recommends all homes have functional smoke alarms, Palmer said. The Red Cross will be working with the department in October in an effort to provide smoke detectors for homes that need them, said fire services specialist Mitch Housden.

Working smoke detectors are especially important as the temperature drops and many homeowners are turning on heating systems such as wood-burning appliances or space heaters, which can be a fire risk if used improperly, such as running a space heater off an extension cord, which can cause fires with the high current draw.

Contact Senior Reporter Michael S. Lockett at 757-621-1197 or mlockett@thedailyworld.com.