GREELEY, Colo. -- Three family pit bulls are credited with saving the lives of a Weld County couple who awoke to find their mobile home on fire.

Rick Reed and his fiancee, Alyssa Baker, were asleep at 2 a.m. Wednesday when they were awakened by barking from Reed's three pit bulls. The dogs were frantically scratching on the bedroom door and one even slammed her head into the door several times in an attempt to wake them.

When Reed got up and opened the door, he saw heavy smoke in the hallway. Reed and Baker managed to climb out a bedroom window and then Reed got his dogs out through a back door as the mobile home fire quickly grew.

Reed had lived in the home at the Friendly Village Mobile Home Park for 21 years, he told the Greeley Tribune. It was a gift from his mother. He said he lost everything he owned in the fire and didn't have insurance.

The American Red Cross was quick to react, giving the couple vouchers for clothing and food and provided lodging in a hotel for the week.

"With the flood in New Orleans, we thought the Red Cross wouldn't have time or money to help us with our little fire," Reed told the newspaper.

He said within a few hours of the fire, Red Cross volunteers were there to help. The mobile home park was also collecting donations for the couple.

Fire investigators said the fire started from electrical wiring in a wall of the mobile home, a fact that didn't surprise Reed.

"For some time now, the dogs have been obsessed with the south wall of the trailer," Reed told the newspaper. "They kept scratching at it and wouldn't leave it alone, even through they've all got all kinds of chew toys."

Fire investigators said the dogs might have smelled the slight odor given off by frayed wiring.