PASCO -- Pete Overlie woke just before 8 on Christmas Eve morning, ready to pick up his newspaper and take it back to bed as he always does.

But as Overlie, 89, wandered toward the bathroom of his Pasco home, he heard someone pounding on his door. A passer-by was trying to alert him that his home was on fire.

Brian Hane said he was on his way to work as lead alignment technician at Les Schwab Tire Center on Court Street when he spotted smoke coming from the house on the 1800 block of North 13th Avenue that Overlie shares with his wife Sheila, 76.

"It looked like it was coming out around the chimney, but as I got to the house I saw it coming out of the gables," Hane said. "I knew it wasn't right."

Hane, 38, of Benton City, quickly stopped and knocked on the door. He found the Overlies standing inside the house near the front door.

"It took a little persuasion, but I got them out of the house. I think they were dazed," Hane said. "After I got them to the stoop, I called 911."

Pasco firefighters were sent to the fire at 7:53 a.m., and the first unit arrived six minutes later, said Capt. Dave Hare. The fire, which appears to have started in a rear family room, was under control by 8:11 a.m.

"We did a transition attack -- a quick exterior hit, followed up immediately with an interior hit and search," Hare said. "Our search found a dog, and we shipped him over to the medics ... and they brought the dog back to life."

Fourteen firefighters responded to the initial call with two fire engines, a ladder truck and three ambulances. Franklin Fire District 3 was also called out for mutual aid. Crews were on scene for a little less than two hours.

"It's always kind of a bummer on Christmas Eve to have to do that, but the guys did a great job," Hare said.

Fire damage was limited to the room and its contents, but there's smoke damage throughout the house, he said. The cause is under investigation.

Sheila Overlie said repairs were made to their furnace the evening before the fire, and they saw smoke coming from the furnace room before they were rushed out of their home wearing just their pajamas. But she couldn't say if that's where the fire started.

"Everything was fine when we went to bed," she said.

The Red Cross was called to help the Overlies, who arranged to stay with a friend until their son could get permission to come from Camp Pendleton in Southern California, where he is stationed as a Navy medic pending deployment to Afghanistan. They have no family in the area.

Pete Overlie is a World War II veteran and retired railroad brakeman. The couple live on a fixed income, and Sheila Overlie said the home was not insured.

The couple had to leave the home without any clothes, shoes, some of their medication, hearing aids, Sheila's glasses and Pete's false teeth.

"They wouldn't let us back in the house," Sheila said. "We couldn't even get a coat on. They put us in an ambulance to wait because it was warmer."

She was worried when she saw her dog, Oreo, had been carried out and looked like he was in bad shape. But paramedics gave Oreo oxygen and revived him.

After Oreo was revived, he was turned over to family friend Sandra Meier, who took him home to give him a bath and fix him up.

Meier said she's thankful the elderly couple made it out of the house safely.

They also may have lost Pete's prized bicycle, which typically was propped just inside the door in the room where the fire was.

The Overlies don't drive, and Pete relies on his bicycle to do the couple's grocery shopping and to pick up medications, his wife said.

His bicycle was stolen on July 4, 2007, but three men from the community bought him a new one after reading about it in the Herald.

On Thursday evening, Sheila Overlie was still trying to wrap her head around the blaze.

"I'm feeling bad," she said. "I've been there 50 years."

To help, call the Benton-Franklin Chapter of the American Red Cross at 783-6195.

-- Paula Horton: 582-1556; phorton@tricityherald.com; Michelle Dupler: 582-1543; mdupler@tricityherald.com