A Guelph couple had started a new chapter of their lives. But a house fire took everything they built the morning of April 11.
Christina Neagu and Ben Whyte moved into their apartment at 114 Arthur St. S. just over a year ago. It was their first home together as a couple. They adopted their cat Pedro, Whyte started his career and Neagu was in her last year at the University of Guelph. 
At about 5 a.m. Thursday they were asleep when they heard a man yelling outside their second floor window. He was driving to work when he saw the fire and sprung into action to alert the tenants to evacuate.
Whyte started shouting that there was a fire. Neagu quickly ran to the kitchen to get Pedro. They got out of the house and Neagu started banging on her neighbour’s door who lived below. Everyone and the connected apartment got out safely with no injuries.
The man helped save them before fire alarms went off.
Whyte’s parents who recently moved to Guelph picked them up, gave them some clothes and got them sorted before heading back to the apartment to get an update on the situation.
The fire was investigated by Guelph Fire Services but it's too early to tell what could have caused the fire.
Neagu is still processing what happened but remembers being very panicked in the moment.
“It's a horrifying experience,” she said.
For the couple it’s the loss of their first home together and the memories they created that is emotional. “I was very happy in that home. We had a really good year. And we will continue to be happy somewhere else. But it's just like, it's a life that we didn't get to say goodbye to,” Neagu said.
“I don't think it's sunk in even just the loss of everything.”
They lost everything; photos, mementos, items passed onto them from family but they are grateful they have each other and their cat Pedro.
Things like the red couches her grandparents gave her, a hand-me-down jacket from her mom and items she had kept from her childhood home can’t be recovered. It’s painful to think that these things are still there, not burnt but damaged. Things she loved so much that she can’t “ever get them back because of the damage that's done to them.”
“There were a lot of things I had that were sentimental,” said Neagu. “There's things you can't replace, but I really appreciated the help and the support from everybody in the community.”
The community, friends and family have helped support them emotionally, financially and have donated necessities.
She was able to recover some things like jewellery and her passport. From the aftermath it looked like the fire reached half the apartment. The other half had smoke and water damage.
Luckily the couple had renter’s insurance. But until it goes through they don’t have anything, like clothes.
Whyte’s sister Meghan started a GoFundMe on Friday with a goal of $10,000 to get the couple on their feet again. It raised $6,800 as of Sunday morning.
Everything is in limbo right now. Neagu is in the middle of exams and she doesn’t know if she’ll be able to take them considering how she’s feeling. She hopes to write them since it’s her final semester.
She and Whyte are going to take the next couple of months to sort things out and plan what's next. Currently they are living with Whyte’s parents.
They’re grateful no one was hurt in the fire. Neagu has read about fires that have happened in Guelph in the last year where people lost pets and loved ones. This fire struck a chord.
Neagu wants anyone else who might find themselves in a similar situation to not be afraid to ask for help.
The couple is trying to remain positive and are grateful for the help they have received. The support feels overwhelming, but in a good way.
