A family of three escaped injury after lint in a clothes dryer trap and ventilation hose ignited and gutted a $600,000 Rancho Santa Margarita house.

But the family’s dog and cat died in the blaze.

Orange County Fire Authority personnel arrived at about 6 a.m. to find a two-story, three-bedroom home on the 32000 block of Lazy Glen Lane, a quiet cul de sac in the Robinson Ranch neighborhood, fully engulfed.

About 50 firefighters responded and kept the damage to the single home.

An unidentified couple and their 15-month-old son were awakened by thick smoke, but got out of the house, which had no working smoke alarms, according to Orange County Fire Authority spokesman Capt. Steve Concialdi.

Lint should be cleaned from a dryer trap each time it is used, he said, and the ventilation hose should be checked regularly to avoid build-up of flammable lint.

Dryers and washing machines were involved in one out of every 22 home structure fires reported to U.S. fire departments, according to the National Fire Protection Association, with failure to clean out lint the leading cause in 32 percent of dryer fires.

The family is receiving assistance from the Red Cross.