Fire trucks flew by Keith and Monique Lavigne as they drove to their home in Riverview, N.B. for lunch Wednesday.
When they got to their street, the couple saw smoke coming out of their home.
"There's no words really to explain when you're watching everything you worked on and tried to make yourself a home and see it up in flames," said Keith Lavigne. "There's no words to explain how heartbreaking it was."
Keith, his wife Monique and their daughter and granddaughter have been left homeless by the fire.
Both of their dogs were rescued by firefighters, but their home was heavily damaged.
Their granddaughter's room is in bad shape and their daughter's room was destroyed.
Riverview Fire and Rescue Chief Robin True said there is water and smoke damage throughout the interior. Damage was fairly extensive to one end of the mini-home.
"We're just grateful that it didn't happen at night because that's where our daughter and granddaughter sleep," said Monique Lavigne. "We keep re-living that but we're trying not to think of what could have happened because we are all OK."
The Lavigne's five-year-old granddaughter is very upset by it all.
"She's a little homebody, that's what we always call her," said Keith. "She always wants to be home. So for her.... it's just hard. I got to get her home."
To make matters worse, the Lavignes don't have home insurance.
Despite the challenges, they are grateful to all of their family and friends for the help they've received so far.
Elaine Kalie, a co-worker of Monique's, has set up a GoFundMe page to help with renovations.
"I can't express how grateful we are for that because it's going to help us renovate and get our family back into our home," said Monique. "It's sentimental to us. This is our first home and it's unfortunate that it happened and hopefully we can get it back to living standards."
All the Christmas presents were saved but the Lavignes won't be spending the holidays at home.
The Red Cross has put the family up in a hotel until Saturday and then their employers will provide a unit at a retirement home for the rest of the month.
The hope is to be back in the house by the end of February.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
