A family escaped a house fire on Callis Field Lane in Mathews Monday evening, but their dog and three cats perished.

Jason Cater of Mathews said he and his wife, Danielle Lea, and their children were playing Nintendo in the living room before dinnertime when they smelled a faint burning odor, but couldn’t pinpoint it.

He said the house, which they were renting, had no central heating and he was using electric heaters in the downstairs bedroom shared by his three children, Taylor, 9; Timothy, 8; and Tina, 5, as well as in the dining room, which the family used both as a living room and as the parents’ bedroom. Between the living area and the children’s bedroom were an entry hall with a stairway, and a larger, formal living room that was kept closed off with a curtain. It was unheated and largely unfurnished. The upstairs was also unused.

Cater said he checked the heater in the bedroom and found nothing amiss, then went back and once again got caught up in the N...