SOUTH BEND — Flames lit up the night sky at an apartment complex in Mishawaka as residents frantically tried to evacuate the building. Some of the people who lived in those apartments lost everything. Others are trying to salvage items that made it through the water damage.

The fire started around 10 p.m. Friday at the Candlewood Apartment complex. It's off of Edison Road near the Grape intersection in Mishawaka.

Witnesses say the flames started on a first floor apartment. Several neighbors used fire extinguishers to try to put the fire out but it just kept growing.

Cassie Bumpus lives across the pond from the building on fire. She brought a fire extinguisher from her complex to help fight the flames.

"I saw the gentlemen that was trying to put the fire out with Eric, my neighbor, and he was crying and talking on the phone so I know that he knew his stuff, you know that everything he had was going to be gone," said Bumpus.

In the daylight you can see the fire completely destroyed the four apartments on the corner of the building.

James Mendenhall is one of renters who lost everything inside.

"No shoes, no clothes. Only clothes I got now are the ones I got on," said Mendenhall.

The Red Cross is helping Mendenhall and some of the other renters with clothing and shelter. But they say it will cost more than $15,000 and they need donations.

While fire investigators dug through the debris, other renters returned to the scene to see how the fire impacted their apartment.

"There is a lot of insulation, paint peeling down. My apartment was on the bottom, where the fire just stopped," said Justin Phillips.

Phillips apartment only suffered water damage and he has renters insurance to help pay for what he lost, but he knows some of his neighbors will be starting from scratch.

"Its depressing, to see people who don't have a lot and you feel for them," said Phillips.

Fire investigators say the fire started in a storage unit. Right now they consider it an accident.

There are 24 units in the complex and 16 of them suffered major damage.

The Red Cross will be at the apartment complex until 8 p.m. Saturday to help people displaced by the fire.

They are also accepting donations. Checks can be mailed to the Red Cross Office, 3220 E. Jefferson Boulevard, South Bend, IN 46615.

Candlewood is working with the renters to find open apartments for them to move into.

See photos from the scene courtesy of WSBT viewer Keith Cooper: