HOLMDEL, N.J. — Authorities say a Thanksgiving Day fire killed four dogs and severely damaged a home in central New Jersey.

No one was in the Holmdel home when the fire broke out around 1:30 p.m. Thursday.

The owner later returned to the house in the Monmouth County community to find that his two Labrador retrievers and two boxers had died.

Police say the cause of the fire remains under investigation, although officials are centering on the kitchen as the likely area where it began.

Authorities say flames burst through the roof, and much of the front of the home was destroyed.