DUNROBIN – Three days after losing everything in a fire, Samantha Phillips, her husband and their friends are ‘overwhelmed’ trying to recover.

“We’re happy we made it out of the house,” Phillips told West Carleton Online today (March 1), the terrifying memory still fresh in her mind. “It has been surreal, unbelievable, overwhelming.”

It was early morning when the fire broke out and Phillips said three of the five roommates were still sleeping.

“Our friend said he smelled burned food and cracked a joke at my husband (Cory Hooymans),” Phillips said, fighting back tears. “My husband looked out the window and saw smoke coming out of the garage. He yelled ‘fire, fire’ and yelled at us to get out of the house. We escaped with just the shirts on our back. We lost several pets. We lost absolutely everything in the fire.”

Phillips said it took about two minutes for the garage to become fully involved and in five minutes the garage was crumbling and igniting the rest of the house.

“You don’t expect fire to move that fast, but it did,” Phillips said.

The fire damaged the home so badly, it was eventually bulldozed when the flames were finally extinguished.

Phillips has 11 horses in a barn at the property where she is also responsible for four boarders. They also have a few goats and a couple birds. Currently there is no water service or electricity in the barn making caring for the animals a struggle.

Of the five “very close friends” who lived in the house, two have moved back to their parents’ homes in Sudbury and Toronto. But the other three are currently staying in a hotel.

“No, we haven’t found a rental yet,” Phillips said.

Phillips and her partner were to officially tie the knot this June , but much of the plans, invitations and Phillips wedding dress were in the home, along with everything else.

Friend George Simpson has created a gofundme page for the couple you can find here.

If you think you can help the three recover from the fire, you can reach Phillips at 705-690-5060 or on her Facebook page.