Damage has been estimated at $300,000 from a swiftly moving fire in Carmichaels, Greene County, that left 15 people from six families homeless and destroyed three apartment buildings.

Jim Higgins, chief of Carmichaels-Cumberland Volunteer Fire Department, said the fire began shortly before 5 p.m. Thursday in a second-floor apartment and quickly spread across a three-foot gap to two adjacent wooden structures.

The fire threatened to spread to the town's Post Office but it sustained no major damage. The blaze's cause is under investigation by a State Police fire marshal.

None of the occupants of the three buildings in the 100 block of North Market Street in downtown Carmichaels were injured, but a firefighter received medical attention when he fell on ice that had formed from runoff of the water being used to fight the fire.

When firefighters arrived, smoke was coming out of the brick structure, the chief said.

"Within five minutes, flames had moved to the second building and were through the roof," Chief Higgins said. "I don't know what made it go so fast, but it went."

He speculated that brisk winds fanned the flames and said a gas line may have ruptured, causing the inferno to spread quickly.

It took six fire companies about three hours to bring the blaze under control. Firefighters had to return to the scene yesterday morning to extinguish stubborn hot spots.

Mary Ann Lewis spotted smoke coming from the structures when she returned about 5 p.m. Thursday to her home at the corner of the 100 block of North Market. She and others ran into the buildings.

"We were knocking on doors, telling people to get out," she said. "Of course, they were shocked, frightened. Some grabbed coats, some didn't. Everybody left with what they had on their backs."

By the time she and everyone else escaped, the buildings were engulfed in flames.

The community, she said, is saddened by the losses suffered by their neighbors but are heartened that no one was injured, not even any pets, all of which were rescued, including a cat she carried to safety.

"These people literally walked away with what they had on their backs but the fact everybody got out safely is the most important thing," she said. "I believe that had it been later in the evening, during sleeping hours, people would not have been as lucky."