Gary Eggan has been a paramedic for about 40 years but he’d never been to a call quite like the one he attended in Kamloops early Sunday morning.

Set to end his shift at 2 a.m. on July 30, Eggan says around 1:45 a.m. his home security system began buzzing his cell phone.

“My phone was going off with all the alerts with the smoke detector going off, glass breaking, fire detected in the home,” Eggan told Radio NL. “So I look at my partner and I said, ‘Oh, it looks like my house is on fire. Let’s go!'”

Eggan arrived just behind the fire trucks. His wife Joy, son Austin, and a friend were safe outside with their two dogs.

“Austin went to the washroom and he noticed the smoke and the flames coming out and he ran upstairs, pounded on the door for his mom and they got out,” Eggan said.

Their three cats however were still inside.

The group watched firefighters work until about 4:30 a.m. before they went to a hotel.

“About 8:30 or so, after a buddy of mine from the ambulance service phoned and asked what my house number was,” Eggan said. “I’m going, ‘What?’ and he goes, ‘what’s your house number?’ and I said ‘what’s your house number?’ and he goes ‘it’s on fire again.'”

Eggan says what was potentially salvageable hours before was now gone.

He says they’re living out of a hotel for now trying to find somewhere to rent that will take a family with two dogs.

“There’s not much rentals for people with pets in this town,” Eggan said.

He says Joy’s father built the home back in 1963.

A GoFundMe set up by her boss has already raised over $20,000, more than double the initial $10,000 goal.