A Lawrence County fire chief saved a sleeping young couple and their three dogs after their house caught on fire early this morning.

Kevin Peters, the fire chief for the New Beaver Borough Volunteer Fire Department, was at home when his pager went off indicating there was a fire on Possum Hollow Road.

"That's the way I go to the fire station, so naturally, I stopped there first," he said.

Half a mile up the road from his home, a fire started in a shed on the side of a house and spread to the side wall, Chief Peters said. He called dispatch to notify them of the fire, but he was the first on the scene.

"I got there and the neighbor lady was on the porch, beating at the door," Chief Peters said. "She said, 'I know they are home. I know they are home.' "

Chief Peters said he did not know the residents of the house before the fire. He said he thinks they moved in two years ago.

The residents did not respond to the knocking and yelling, so Chief Peters kicked the door in. The first floor didn't seem that bad, but the second floor was filled with smoke.

"I was hollering 'fire, fire' because I wanted them to know I was the fire department," Mr. Peters said. "That's a scary situation kicking the door in on someone's house in the middle of the night, but what can you do?"

A young couple was still asleep when Chief Peters arrived. "They were in shock" after he woke them, Chief Peters said.

The man and woman, both in their 20s, and their three dogs escaped. Chief Peters said a cat escaped on its own.

"They were just glad that I woke them up," he said. "I said I felt bad for kicking their door in. I just had to get in."

The fire, in the 500 block of Possum Hollow Road, was put out by 3:30 a.m., Chief Peters said, after four local departments responded. The fire severely damaged the exterior and interior of the house, he said.

The fire appeared to be accidental, he said.