'Get out buddy': Man and five dogs lucky to be alive after house fire

A Western Sydney man and his five dogs are lucky to be alive after their home was engulfed by fire.

Investigations are under way into how it started, with one line of inquiry a fireplace that was left burning.

A neighbour's desperate call "get out buddy, get out of there, it's too late buddy", could be heard before the dogs and owner emerged from the home in Cambridge Gardens near Penrith.

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The Carlyle Crescent home became a ball of smoke and fire just after 11.30am today.

With the resident inside with his five dogs neighbour Paul Boyd noticed the smoke and called triple zero.

"It was like cracking like fire cracks, crack, crack, crack," Boyd said.

The flames erupted within seconds but took two hours to put out.

"The fire was very advanced when the first crew arrived, the fire on both levels of the house," Fire and Rescue NSW duty commander Paul Collis said.

The roof collapsed and Collis said little would be able to be salvaged.

The cause was still too early to be determined but one area of interest was the fireplace that was on in the living room.

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