United States (Indiana) - Residents of the Avon Creek apartment complex here woke Wednesday to a large plume of black smoke and a raging fire that took over half of an apartment building within 15 minutes. Eight apartment units were affected in the fire, which was called in to the Avon-Washington Township Fire Department at 10:50 a.m.

No one was injured in the blaze.

Battalion Chief Jeff Thompson of the Avon-Washington Township Fire Department said firefighters were on scene within four minutes, but the fire had already spread quickly.

"Within 15 minutes the whole attic was involved. There is actually a fire wall, there are 16 total units (in the building), and with the quick action of the firefighters it was contained (to only eight)," Thompson said. "We tried to make a quick stop on it, but had to go into defensive mode."

Thompson said they didn't know what caused the fire and wouldn't know until the fire was completely out. As of noon Wednesday firefighters were still working to put out hot spots and ensure the fire was out.

"It's under investigation and we haven't been able to get in yet," Thompson said Wednesday. "We think it was the first floor, but we're not sure."

The roof of the building was either burnt away or had collapsed, and part of the second floor had collapsed as well.

Though no people were harmed in the fire, Thompson said they were still looking for pets.

One of the apartment residents, Kelly Pruett, said her husband and three children made it out safely, but she hadn't located her two cats before they had to leave the building.

"The kids are OK, but we're not sure about the cats. Everything we had, all of our presents. It's not even a couple days before Christmas," Pruett said through tears. "My kids were running around, I was watching TV getting ready to wrap presents and heard a knock on the door and someone said there was a fire."

Pruett said she has lived there since May.

One of Pruett's neighbors, Martie Morris, said she was supposed to be at work that day, and was thankful she was home to get her children and cats out of the building safely. She said her husband has lived in the same unit on the first floor for the past three years.

"Everybody's OK. But we don't know anything. Everything's ruined," Morris said. "I was supposed to be at work today, but I was inside and my oldest son was outside and he came in and told me."

Employees from Avon Creek apartments, which are owned by parent company Empirian Property Management, Inc., were not releasing any information as of press time.

None of the residents that the Hendricks County Flyer spoke with were sure where they would be staying or if the apartment complex would be providing housing for them.

More than 60 firefighters from Avon, Plainfield, Danville, Brownsburg, Wayne Township, and Decatur Township responded to the scene.

Written by Hendricks County Flyer