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The fire started around 2:00 am and Monica Bodden tried to find out why:..

Monica Bodden reporting
This morning's fire started from the front portion of the apartment building and quickly spread throughout the entire long barracks.

It started from the apartment belonging to Alice Guzman - who told fire officials that she was awakened by smoke coming from her apartment - She quickly alerted the other 3 families living in the same long barracks.

The 27 residents of the 4 room apartment managed to escape unhurt but saved nothing.

Crinnia Stevens - Homeless
"This morning I got up like around minutes to 2 with smoke in the house choking me. I wake up my daughter and got my two boys from the other room and then I came outside. I forgot the key for the gate inside the house, I went inside the house to get the key and my phone, by that time the entire house was under smoke."

Reporter
"Was it from your side of the house or from the other side?"

Crinnia Stevens - Homeless
"From the neighbor, from this last apartment - it looks like it started up in the ceiling - like electrical. Everything just blaze up, everything burned up, my children and I don't have anything."

Gilbert Cadle - Fire Victim
"I was sleeping at the time when I saw the fire. I came out and went in back for my kids."

Monica Bodden
"The house was already engulfed?"

Gilbert Cadle - Fire Victim
"Yes with high flames."

16 children are left homeless after this morning's fire. - Their parents are still trying to figure out where they will be laying their heads for rest tonight.

Crinnia Stevens - Homeless
"The lady over here is her husband and like 6 children, then me and my 3 children and then the young man over there; he, his wife and 4 children, then my sister and her 3 children."

Reporter
"So now where are you guys staying?"

Crinnia Stevens - Homeless
"We don't have anywhere to stay right now. We were waiting for someone to come at least to assist us."

Gilbert Cadle - Fire Victim
"I'm being real - I don't know where I am going to stay tonight me, my family and my friends because right now nobody is saying anything to us and I don't have anybody; my mother is dead and my father is in jail, so it's me alone."

Monica Bodden
"How about you, do you have a place to stay tonight?"

Odessa Belisle - Fire Victim
"I will try to stay at my mom, but I just need somebody to try to reach out to me because I am self-employed - I do my business here - I have my sign up here and I go to school in the evening. I need the help because I have 3 children going to All Saints School. I just want a little push because I can help myself too."

The victims of this morning's fire say they have been trying to reach their area rep since the time of the incident but to no avail.

Crinnia Stevens - Homeless
"This morning they call Mark King but he shut down his phone - he didn't even come and this is his area."

Odessa Belisle - Fire Victim
"Anybody who wants to help; red or blue, we don't care because this is a time to come together."

Reporter
"You try to reach out to your area rep?"

Gilbert Cadle - Fire Victim
"Yes ma'am but no response at all. From 1:30 this morning me and my neighbors 15 children are out of door up to now - nobody came. The fire truck came but without water, I don't know what kind of fire pump is that."

Reporter
"How did the fire not spread? How did they get it extinguish?"

Crinnia Stevens - Homeless
"We had to kick off all the water head from back here and we get buckets and the neighbors came to help. We want to thank the neighbors."

Monica Bodden
"Basically you all control the fire by yourself?"

Gilbert Cadle - Fire Victim
"Yes ma'am."

Odessa Belisle - Fire Victim
"We had the fire under control until they got their water. They took a while to get their water."

So far the cause of fire has not yet been determined as fire officials continues to investigate.

Ben Matura - Operations Officer, Fire Department
"Approximately a quarter after two this morning we got a call for a house fire in the Lake I area. On arrival we on Flamboyant Street we discovered 2 apartments in one of the long barracks were already engulf in flames. We got into operation and started to extinguish the fire."

Monica Bodden
"We were there earlier this morning and residents were complaining about the water situation."

Ben Matura
"The residents claimed we travelled without water which is not true. The trucks always have water. The way we fight fire - we used the water in the trucks and once that deplete, that's depleted, we have to find some source of water. On Flamboyant Street just a little up more there is access to the river, but the access that there was not appropriate for our trucks and we could not have draft water from that area, so in return we had to go like 3 blocks down on Lavender Street where there was a better access for us to get the water and re-supply the scene."

If you'd like to help any of those people you saw in the story, you can call them at 663-3178, 607-9752 or 650-1478.

We note that police put the number of homeless at 19, but the residents say it is 27.