ORANGE PARK, Fla. — An Orange Park family is trying to recover from a tragic house fire.
Clay County Fire Rescue says it appears the house was struck by lightning this week.
The White family isn't allowed to go inside -- the roof caved in right in the middle of the home.
"They heard a loud burst of a lightning strike," said Sam White.
He and his wife Amy were at work Monday when stormy weather rolled into their Orange Park neighborhood.
However, their two kids and two dogs were at the house.
"My daughter said she looked out the back door, didn't notice anything unusual," said White.
When she got back in the house, she saw the smoke in the back bedroom.
She got her brother and ran out of the house into the pouring rain, calling 911.
"We're just extremely grateful our children got out, and our fur babies," said Amy White. "That's what's most important."
"It was intense," said neighbor Christina Dyszel. "I haven't been in a lightning storm like that, ever."
Dyszel lives down the street, and says the boom was so loud, she thought it was her house that was hit initially, before seeing the home two doors down in flames.
"They were able to get some clothes and throw it out the window," said Dyszel. "I brought my van over, and told them to load it up in the van. There was five different neighbors that did laundry for them."
Insurance and the Red Cross helped with immediate accommodations, and the White family says their neighbors, including Dyszel, really stepped up to lend a hand.
"If this were to happen to my family member, we'd do the same thing," said Dyszel. "I know any of our neighbors, if anything happened to us, they'd do the same thing for us. We're a little family here, we have to take care of each other."
White says on top of the laundry, their neighbors took their kids in out of the storm, cooked meals, gave them clothes and offered to let them sleep in campers.
"They have gone above and beyond. Without them, I don't know where we'd be," said White. "We are new to Florida, so we don't have family down here, so they've become our instant family."
There is a GoFundMe set up for the family - they said they could use help with basic necessities and getting a deposit together for a rental for the time being.
If you'd like to help, you can click here.