VALDOSTA — Curtis Avera heard a pop Tuesday night at the same time the family dog started barking at the back door.

It was the first warning that a fire threatened his 4600 Hickory Creek Circle home in the Stone Creek subdivision.

Avera was at home with his wife, Mandy, and daughter, 21-month-old Cayden, at 8:45 p.m. when the noises alerted him to danger. He opened the door to discover that his truck had caught on fire in the three-car garage.

Grabbing a fire extinguisher, Avera doused the blaze and then continued with another extinguisher his wife handed him. He exhausted both firefighting devices to no avail.

Jumping into his wife’s Tahoe, Curtis Avera backed the vehicle out as the fire climbed into the attic. Meanwhile, Mandy Avera grabbed Cayden and, with the dog in tow, left the house through the front door. No one was injured in the fire.

“The attic scuttlehole was right over the truck,” said Jim Fielding, Lowndes County fire chief. “The fire burned all the way through the attic until it a firewall, then it came down (into the house).”

The house was fully involved when the North Lowndes, Shiloh and Westside Fire Department arrived. Firefighters battled the blaze through the night.

“They responded as quickly as possible,” Curtis Avera said. “They did a great job. They even helped us save some pictures.”

In the end, the Fire Department recorded the house as a total loss. “The insurance adjuster was out there (Wednesday) afternoon when I was there,” Fielding said.

The Averas had lived at 4600 Hickory Creek Circle for four 1/2 years. Surveying the scene Wednesday afternoon, Curtis Avera said the events of the night before still seemed surreal. He expressed gratitude that he and his wife of eight years and their child escaped injury. “Everybody’s fine,” Avera said. “We’re really thankful for that.”

Firefighters determined the blaze definitely started in the garage. A closer examination of the truck wasn’t possible Wednesday because the garage roof collapsed around the vehicle.