Tragedy struck in Sydenham, Ont., north of Kingston, on Christmas Day as a couple lost everything they own when their house burned to the ground.
Annette Wilde, who owns the home with her partner Scott Swain, described the scene as her home burned in front of them.
“It was just black and smoke,” she said.
Wilder and Swain are still reliving the trauma of the fire that took everything from them.
South Frontenac Fire and Rescue responded to the fire but in the end, they lost everything, save for the clothes on their back and their dog.
“All the things from our families, from my father, from my mother, from my stepmother, from Scott — all of the priceless personal stuff is all gone,” Wilde said through tears.
The house was built in the late 1800s and has been owned by Wilde’s family since the early 2000s, while she and Swain have called it home permanently since 2018.
Swain said he tried to save it by running back into the house with a fire extinguisher.
“You couldn’t breathe, it was just clouds of black smoke. I didn’t see any flames, but you couldn’t really see anything,” he said.
Now, the couple and their dog — their cat was lost to the fire — are forced to start all over again, something Wilde said she is approaching from as positive a point of view as she can.
“I think we’re very lucky. We’re lucky to be alive, we’re lucky to have our dog, we’re lucky to be a part of Sydenham and to have this great community,” she said.
The community has rallied around the couple.
Wilde says they’ve received tons of support on Facebook as well as people dropping by or reaching out to offer help.
“My Zumba teacher is going to do a fundraiser or something for us, so we’re going to do Zumba,” she added.
Now, with the Sydenham community behind them, Wilde and Swain will begin the challenging process of rebuilding their lives.