Twice he dashed into the smoke-laced kitchen with an extinguisher, and twice the blaze reignited with greater force. Balancing a third try with thoughts of his expectant wife, Ecker said he gave up and let the flames sweep through a home his grandfather had bought and remodeled during the Depression.

"I realized it was just too big for my fire extinguisher," he said, standing on his front steps off Rifle Camp Road. Just 100 yards away was the fire-damaged house that he and his wife had been renting to two tenants.

Mixed in with the adrenaline and exhaustion Tuesday night was a touch of coincidence: Among the first firefighters to arrive were members of Rifle Camp Volunteer Fire Company 3, which Ecker's grandfather, George Schaediger, helped found in 1922. Ecker's father, John F. Ecker, later volunteered in the same company.

Recounting his own firefighting, Ecker, 39, said he had just stepped onto his porch to smoke a cigar when he spotted the nascent flames and ran to fetch a spare key for the Cape Cod, which was unoccupied at the time.

"I like fires around the pit, but most of the time they kind of scare me," Ecker said. "With this one, I was just reacting. Thinking about it now, it probably wasn't the smartest thing to do."

For the past 18 months, Ecker and his wife Kim Dolan, 38, have rented the house to two men who are cousins of each other. Most of their belongings were destroyed, but Ecker managed to save their dog, Rocky.

One tenant, Arthur McDonnell, a student at Montclair State University, recently returned from several months of active duty as an Air Force reservist and now works the 2 a.m.-to-8 a.m. shift at a FedEx office in Fairfield, his cousin said. The other, Luke Pulido, 25, was just returning from his own shift at the shipping center Tuesday night when he saw flashing lights clustered at the end of his driveway. McDonnell, 22, arrived 20 minutes later.

"All the trucks were there, and the windows in the house were blown out," Pulido said. "The fire was really going. We pretty much lost everything, but we were glad John got our dog out."

He said living arrangements in the near-term were a bit uncertain.

"We're just bouncing around, really," Pulido said. "We're staying at my mother's house in Rutherford for tonight, but we're not sure where we're going from here."

Assistant Fire Chief Michael Muccio said the fire started in an electrical outlet above the kitchen counter, then spread along the walls and into the attic.

Ecker and Dolan said they plan to make repairs with money from their insurance policy. The couple have an 18-year-old daughter and are expecting their first son next month.

E-mail: crouse@northjersey.com