A dog’s loud bark roused a Needham family from sleep early Tuesday, saving them from a raging three-alarm fire that damaged their home.

A mother, father, and two young children made it out — and so did their dog, but the fire “almost gutted’’ the 2½-story Allindale Road home, Deputy Chief Tom Conroy said.

“In my experience of 30 years, I have never heard of a dog waking up a family in a fire,’’ said Needham Fire Chief Dennis Condon.

It took about an hour to contain the flames after firefighters arrived at the house just after 2 a.m., officials said. One Needham firefighter was taken to a hospital, treated for heat-related injuries, and released.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

The single-family home on Allindale Road is valued at $602,100, according to the town assessor’s office.

Dylan McGuinness can be reached at dylan.mcguinness@globe.com.