Two families are homeless and several others are displaced after a fire ripped through several units of a midtown apartment complex on Sunday, August 10. The fire started on the bottom floor of an apartment Sunday afternoon in the 1200 block of North Alvernon Way.

When the fire started, neighbors thought Danielle Willard and her 2-year old daughter were inside, so they tried to help, as any Good Samaritan would. “I knew she had a baby, and I saw smoke coming out from the door, so I just ran up barefoot and kicked in that front door, grabbed the fire extinguisher and ran in the house and tried to put it out the best I could,” says neighbor Michael Vasquez.

By then, the blaze was too strong for fire extinguishers, but fortunately the occupant was not there. “I wasn’t even home,” says Willard. “I got a phone call saying my house was on fire.”

The fire made it’s way from the bottom unit to the apartment directly above it, and also caused smoke damage to two other apartments. Firefighters say it took about 15 minutes to control the blaze, and although nobody was injured, the rebuilding process now begins for Willard, who lost everything.

“My clothes, my daughter’s toys, her bed, all of her clothes, my furniture, my pictures,” Willard says. Meantime, one neighbor was relieved to save their pet. “We found my little cat, who was stuck, she crawled up between the dishwasher and the sink in her fear,” says Kristen Delahay.

Among the confusion of lost pets and possessions is the question of what happened. “I lit a candle before I left, but I swear I blew it out. I don’t know,” says Willard. Investigators say the fire, whatever caused it, was an accident.

Meanwhile, the people who live at the apartment complex are thankful that things didn’t turn out worse. “This could have been a very devastating incident,” says Norm Carlton.

Investigators say the fire caused about $200,000 in damage. The Red Cross is stepping in to help those affected.