Dozens of people are homeless following a massive fire in an apartment complex Southdale early Sunday morning.

Bruce Henderson, a tenant in a third floor apartment, said he was watching TV when he heard a big bang.

“Then I saw some flickering out the window,” Henderson said, “So I pulled the curtains open to see what it was and the whole deck was on fire already.”

Rav Sangha, a paramedic who was visiting from Dauphin, said she woke up to embers.

She woke up her hosts, pulled the building’s fire alarm and her host called 9-1-1.

“The fire was spreading across the balcony and there’s barbeques and stuff there,” said Sangha.

She rushed outside, but not before banging on doors to warn others.

“I told everybody to kind of hurry up because we looked outside and the fire was spreading to the roof and coming to the front. By the time most people were making their way out, there were big chunks of embers falling by the front door.”

Sangha said she and her friend noticed the fire may be spreading to the other building and rushed to pull the other fire alarm, and banged on doors to warn people.

“The other building eventually caught on fire as well,” said Sangha. “I didn’t want anyone to be stuck inside the fire.”

Officials said at the height of the blaze there were 19 fire crews and four EMS crews on scene.

The apartment complex involved in the blaze contains two buildings with twelve suites each.

The fire was declared under control around 7:40 a.m. As of 10 a.m. crews remained on scene to facilitate overhaul and monitor hot spots, and are expected to be on scene through the afternoon.

No injuries have been reported at this time.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.