The fire was reported about 2 p.m. at 2429-2431 Wesvill Court, a 24-unit three-story building in the apartment community off Lake Boone Trail near Rex Hospital, Styons said.

No one was injured, Styons said. Several cats and dogs were rescued from apartments.

The fire was contained in 20 minutes and extinguished in 45 minutes, leaving 18 units damaged. Styons said the tenants, who he was told included 10 families, will be displaced.

"It's like my worst fear to come home to something like this," said Sonnia Lesane, who saw the fire as she arrived home from her job as a teaching assistant for Wake Public Schools. "I turned into the parking lot and couldn't get in. Then I drove around to another entrance and saw everything, and I said, 'What's going on?' My first thought was [that] it was my building.

"Everything you own is in these apartments."

Anna Krashyahskaya, a disabled woman who lives in the building, said she thought a noise was coming from the laundry room and didn't give it a second thought.

Then a firefighter knocked on her door.

"When I opened the door, I could see all the fire," she said in a thick Russian accent. "I put on what I had and grabbed my medicine and got out quickly."

She said firefighters told her they were able to save all of her belongings.

"I expected to lose everything," she said, adding that the firefighters "did an excellent job."

Red Cross workers were on the scene, and plans were in the works to relocate the residents to vacant units within the apartment community.

More Photo From Raleigh Fire Department - Click Here

Photos by Lee Wilson - RFD photographer
Written by The News Observer