Flames shot from the house and smoke seeped through the shingles as Amy Mowbray-Mace and Jason Mace, her husband, stood in the early-morning light and watched helplessly while everything they owned turned to ash.

It was shortly after 7 a.m. and just a half-hour earlier the Maces awoke to find the house they were renting in Elkton, Va., on fire.

Holding a flannel shirt over the nightgown she went to bed in the night before, Amy explained how she and her husband woke to find their house filled with smoke.

“You couldn’t see anything,” she said.

When they realized their house was on fire, the Maces leapt from their bed to gather their three children — Haley, 8, Harley, 4, and Garrett, 3.