BEND, Ore -- Just after 10 p.m. Tuesday, both La Pine and Sunriver firefighters were called to a garage fire at a home north of La Pine.

The family renting the home where the fire broke out had called 911.

J.C. Morris, the renter, said it was just a normal night; and he was taking his dogs to their kennels in the garage which they sleep in.

"When I opened the door to the garage, I was hit with smoke," he recalled Wednesday, "so I hit the garage door opener so I could see where the fire was."

He said opening the garage doors seemed to give the fire oxygen - and as soon as that happened, the entire garage went up in flames in minutes.

Panicked at the sight of the flames, Morris said he only had time to evacuate his family before grabbing the dogs.

"If that was all we could get, then that was enough for us," Morris said.

Neighbors said they heard explosions Tuesday night. Fire officials attributed them to the various propane tanks and gas cans in the garage.

La Pine Fire Chief Mike Supkis said there were more propane tanks and gas cans in the garage then they normally expect.

"That's just life," he said. "People have those things in their garage - you know, people work in their garage and have those things."

Morris said living so close to the forest, fire prevention is on his mind, but he never expected this.

"You think maybe the outside might burn you, but you don't necessarily think the inside is going to, and it did," Morris said.

Firefighters said the fire door and sheet rock between the garage and the house helped to save the home and the Morris family.

"You never think fire is going to happen to you," Supkis said. "But i think this is a classic example where some of the building codes really helped here."

Supkis said the cause of the fire is being investigated, but it does not appear to be suspicious.

The Morris family is just thankful to be alive today. Morris said if the fire had started just 30 minutes later, he and his wife - who is 6 1/2 months pregnant - would have been asleep in their bedroom, which sits directly over the garage.

The couple also has a young son, Preston, who was in the house at the time of the garage fire.

Morris said the family is missing one of their dogs named Sake. She was frightened by the fire and ran away.

He asked that neighbors keep a lookout for her. She is small, white and has brown spots. He said she comes to her name, but does not have a collar on.