PETOSKEY, MI -- Fire alarms sounded around 2:30 a.m. at Lafayette Apartments.

By the time everybody made it out of the building it was fully engulfed.

These pictures were snapped by a cell phone as a blaze ripped through Lafayette Apartments overnight.  A fire alarm alerted sleeping residents moments before that fire was engulfing the building.

“I stepped outside to see all kinds of sparks from atop the building, ran back in, hollering fire, and telling everybody to get out, and that's exactly what we did," said Fred Allain, who lived in the apartment.

Allain and his family lived on the top floor.  He said he knocked on everyone's door to make sure they were evacuated.

“It doesn't seem like it was five minutes and everybody was outside watching the thing go up in flames," said Allain.

They ran out with what they had on their back.

“Those early morning fires, people are sleeping, sometimes they can turn tragic, but I think we were lucky here.  You can see from the building that the firefighters got here quick enough to contain it to a small portion of this unit or could have been much worse," said John Calabrese, the Director of Petoskey Department of Public Safety.

Calabrese says firefighters were able to get a hold of the fire before it did more damage.  He says the first obligation was to make sure everyone was out, and then precautionary steps were taken and buildings nearby were evacuated.

“There's heavy fire damage actually to the second and third floors.  A lot of smoke and water damage to the entire unit.  We still haven't determined the cause of the fire," said Calabrese.

For the Allain's, luckily they have family nearby to stay with.  And luckily everybody made it out.

Nine apartment units were affected.  The Red Cross and salvation army were at the scene to help the victims.  Firefighters say it looks accidental and they believe it was not arson.

The fire remains under investigation.