21 people are now displaced after an overnight fire ripped through a Harrisburg neighborhood and destroyed their homes.
"The police and the fire department banging on my door and they said you have to get out, there's a fire and it's literally on top of us," said Pixie Casale, a displaced resident.
Fire officials say they received a call after 2:30 a.m. Wednesday morning of a fire on the 600 block of Geary Street. By the time they arrived, it quickly spread to neighboring homes.
"You could see the smoke was just everywhere," Casale added.
Multiple units were called for assistance and the fire was under control within an hour. officials say the fire reportedly started at 610 Geary Street and quickly moved down the row of houses, resulting in $280,000 worth of damage.
"One of the things we deal with and that we dealt with this particular fire is the open void and quite frankly if you go into these buildings you won't even realize that there was a fire because a lot of the contents are only water damage. All the fire was high in the ceiling and just ran down the top of the row, what we call the cockloft," said Chief Brian Enterline with the Harrisburg Fire Department.
A firefighter was injured after he fell from the second floor rear roof but continued to work despite his leg injury. He was taken to Hershey Medical Center and later released.
Michael Bozier lived on the third floor of the building with his girlfriend and two kids. They are now homeless. "It's a disaster. You could see straight through the ceiling, straight through the houses. They had to rip the walls. Everything is burnt," he added.
These dogs are the only animals in the home located at 610 Geary Street, to survive the fire. "I had two snakes and an iguana and they're all dead too," said Bozier.
Fire Chief Enterline says, if it wasn't for the quick response time, things could have been much worse. Fire crews got to the location within four minutes after the call was placed and were able to safely evacuate residents.
"Nothing. No clothes, just my birth certificate. That's it. Nothing else I could get," said Johnie Spivey, another displaced resident.
The American Red Cross is assisting all the families. They'll stay at a hotel for several days and then decide where to go from there. But they say, they'll remain optimistic.
"2014 was not a good year. I hope 2015 is going to be better for everybody," Casale said.
It's unclear what started the fire and officials say the investigation is ongoing.