ANSON — A dog is credited with waking its owner and alerting him to an early morning fire Wednesday that destroyed the man’s mobile home, according to Anson fire Chief Stacey Beane.

The fire broke out just before 3 a.m. at 30 Embden Pond Road in the village of North Anson and was contained to the home. The man living there had working smoke detectors, Beane said, but was first alerted to the fire by his dog.

“(The dog) actually probably saved his life,” Beane said.

The man escaped uninjured with his dog, according to Beane, but the door to the home was left open and the pet went back inside.

At first, emergency workers hoped the dog, a pit bull-Lab mix, had escaped and was missing, but Beane later confirmed it had perished in the fire. A state fire inspector found the dog’s body in the bedroom.

Beane said extremely cold temperatures overnight hampered firefighting efforts.

“Our gear tends to freeze up when it gets wet,” she said. “Hands really get cold because your gloves are wet — they freeze.”

In addition to firefighters from Anson, crews from Madison and Starks responded to the scene.

The cold also might have been part of the reason the fire broke out, according to Beane, who said the homeowner told emergency workers he had been using an electric heater overnight.

The Office of State Fire Marshal is investigating the fire’s cause.

Fire crews left the scene by 6 a.m., Beane said, and the American Red Cross is involved in relocating the homeowner.