A house fire in the Helena Valley erupted early Thursday morning, extensively damaging the home but injuring no one.

The fire, at 910 Erickson, was first reported at 4:44 a.m. The home was fully engulfed in fire, Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Cheryl Liedle said at nearly 7 a.m. She said no one was hurt in the fire.

A crew from West Valley was joined by Lewis and Clark, Tri-Lakes, East Valley and East Gate volunteer fire departments.

Erickson is off North Montana Avenue approximately 2 ½ miles past Bob's Valley Market.

The fire allegedly was caused by a heat lamp in a dog house in the backyard. The fire traveled into the roof of the home, gutting about half the roof, said West Valley Volunteer Fire Department Chief Jerry Shepherd.

There has been extensive water and smoke damage to the home, which is insured.

The dog, and Akita breed named Akira, is fine.

The Lustgraaf family, which owns the home, was awakened by the smoke alarm. They never smelled the smoke.

Jeff Lustgraaf said safety was the first thing that crossed his mind when he heard the smoke alarm.

"I was just trying to get everybody out and just tried to grab a few important documents," he said. "We were able to get out what we wanted to get out."

Lustgraaf, his wife, Joy, and son, Chris, 17, all escaped unharmed. Chris said he saw the fire down below, outside his second-story window on the back side of the house.

Joy Lustgraaf, a Helena High School math teacher, stood Thursday morning watching firefighters mop up the scene. As she did, a neighbor she had never met came up, hugged her and offered Lustgraaf breakfast. This was not the first neighbor to do so, she said.

As Chris' aunt, Cyndie Einan of Great Falls, approached, he showed her one item that was saved from his bedroom by firefighters: a snapshot of Sparky, Einan's recently deceased springer spaniel, encased in a plastic sleeve and on a leather strap.

"We did the passion plunge and I wore (the picture) in with me," Chris said.

Jeff Lustgraaf said the family has lived in the house for 11 years. He said it's too early to know whether the family will rebuild the damaged home.

Firefighters were still mopping up from the blaze several hours later as the family gathered in the garage, talking to neighbors and friends about how to move forward.

"I just want to thank the firefighters for coming out, and I'm glad nobody was hurt," Joy Lustgraaf said.

A neighbor who lives in the same block as the home on fire said as of 7:12 a.m. it looked calm. Fire trucks were still on the scene, and it was smoldering, said Maureen Glatzmaier, who lives across the street and three houses down.

Glatzmaier sent a breaking news tip to the Independent Record at 5:31 a.m. via the home page at helenair.com.

But when the fire first broke out, it wasn't so calm.

Glatzmaier said she saw "Fire, just the glow. It was just red hot.

"Where my perspective is, it looked like a roof. I just saw the redness in the sky."

This breaking news story was first posted at 7:19 a.m. Check back at helenair.com throughout the day for more updates to this breaking news story.

If you have photos of this fire, please send them to john.doran@lee.net.

Editor John Doran and reporter John Harrington contributed to this story.