A Stevens man shouted to his children to "stay low," as they fled their burning home early Saturday morning.

Christopher Harrower then went back into the master bedroom to help his wife, Linda, firefighters believe.

Their five children made it out of the burning house safely.

Mrs. Harrower, rescued by firefighters, was critically injured.

But Harrower, 50, also pulled from the home by firefighters, did not survive and was pronounced dead at the scene.

County emergency dispatchers said around 4 a.m. Saturday they received multiple calls of a house fire with entrapment at 65 E. Summit Drive in East Cocalico Township.

Flames were ripping through the roof and the back of the house when they arrived, firefighters said, but within an hour, the home was destroyed and the family was left homeless.

It was the Harrowers' 20-year-old daughter, Bethany, firefighters said, who helped her younger siblings safely escape the burning house.

"Dakota woke me up," Bethany Harrower said, stroking the head of her large black Labrador retriever, as she stood outside her still-smoldering home Saturday.

"He was whining and finally jumped on top of me," Bethany said of her dog, "and I heard burning, popping noises."

"My dad was yelling out, 'Stay low. Stay down. Call 911,' " Bethany Harrower said.

Leading her younger siblings, Emily, 5, and Jordan, 11, down the front steps and outside, Bethany said she then ran back inside for her cell phone to call 911.

"I broke the bathroom window," Courtney Harrower, 12, said, so that she and her brother, Jonathan, 14, could climb out onto the back roof.

From there, Bethany Harrower then helped them to the ground and away from the fire.

The home sits over a hill on a small farmette at the end of a narrow road outside Reamstown.

When firefighters arrived at the scene, flames were already ripping through the roof and attic area of the two-story frame house.

Fire Chief Harvey Achey said he could see the two adults trapped in the second-floor bedroom.

"I had a ladder on my truck, so I put it up to the window before the first [fire] engine arrived."

Firefighters were able to get the couple outside and down the ladder, while others started pouring water on the flames.

Harrower, who was the group sales director at Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre in Lancaster, was placed in an ambulance, where he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Dr. Stephen Diamantoni, county coroner, said Saturday that Harrower died of smoke inhalation and ruled the death accidental. He said there will be no autopsy, concluding that Harrower died as a result of the fire.

Mrs. Harrower, president of the Plain & Fancy Animal Rescue, and her son, Jonathan, were taken to Ephrata Community Hospital.

A nursing supervisor said Saturday afternoon that Mrs. Harrower was in critical, but stable, condition and her son was treated and released.

About four dozen volunteers from Reamstown, Stevens, Denver and Lincoln Fire Company responded to the call Saturday, as well as East Cocalico and state police.

Achey said the fire was under control in about three-quarters of an hour.

The small barn and other buildings on the property, which housed dozens of animals, were not damaged.

Troopers James DeWalt and Brian Herr, state police fire marshals, investigated.Fire officials said Saturday night the blaze had been ruled accidental and electrical in nature.

Reamstown Fire Chief Harvey Achey said the fire started in a second-floor bedroom in the rear of the home.

DeWalt estimated the damage at $90,000 to the structure and $45,000 to the contents. He said the home was a total loss.

Bethany and Courtney Harrower, standing in a field across from their home Saturday morning with a dozen puppies from their mother's rescue organization, said representatives of the American Red Cross gave them vouchers to stay at a nearby motel until Monday.

"We lost everything," Courtney Harrower said. "Clothes, shoes, everything."

The younger children are students in the Cocalico School District. Bethany Harrower works at a Schoeneck stable.

Rows of charred and blackened prize ribbons, which Bethany Harrower said she won for horse show competitions, were strung across the window of what used to be her bedroom.

The family belongs to Mohns Memorial Evangelical Congregational Church, located between Adamstown and Mohnton.

Representatives of the church said they would organize an effort to help collect clothing, shoes and other items to help the family.

Anyone interested in helping is asked to call the church at 610-775-3667.

According to Harrower's website information, he spent 10 years in broadcast radio, before he became director of sales and marketing for the Choo Choo Barn in Strasburg.

He received the "Certified Travel Industry Specialist" designation from the American Bus Association in 2008 and was awarded the first "Team Spirit" award from the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention & Visitors Bureau.

"The Dutch Apple has lost a wonderful person as part of our family today, and we all have very heavy hearts," general manager Denise Trupe said Saturday in a prepared statement.

"Chris loved the Dutch Apple and it showed in everything that he did. His touch on the hospitality industry here in Lancaster and across the nation is evident through his friendships that he created, his enthusiasm to spread the word about Lancaster County and his incomparable love of tourism. Chris was the true showman in our team and our thoughts and prayers are with his own family and especially with Linda as she recovers. A standing ovation greatly deserved."

Harrower's wife of more than 22 years was active in animal rescue, housing many of the animals on their farmette.

Representatives from the Humane League of Lancaster County came to the fire scene Saturday and took more than three dozen animals into their care.

In a news release issued Saturday evening, Humane League officials said 38 dogs, three cats, one parrot, two guinea pigs and one hamster that had been in the care of Plain and Fancy Animal Rescue had been signed over to them.

League officials also said several animals, including an iguana, perished in the blaze.

Several dogs, cats and small animals that survived the fire will remain under observation at the Humane League for signs of smoke inhalation which, they said, can take up to two weeks to become apparent.

Other animals were housed in a kennel on the property and were not affected by the fire, Humane League officials said.

jkelley@lnpnews.com