Fire damaged apartment building, forcing four families from their homes

Fresno, Calif. (KFSN) -- It was a sleepless night for apartment manager Alicia Hernandez.

"Very scary, very worried about the families," said Hernandez.

Hernandez says she woke up to the sound of a tenant going around banging on doors -- a shed next door was on fire.

"It was just horrible. The winds were blowing so hard that the fire just caught up fast the apartments were in flames," said Hernandez.

Police got on scene making sure everyone got to safety, but still no fire engines. Her husband jumped into action trying to stop the flames.

"He was trying to water the back of the building but he said the ashes and fire starting getting on his head forget this and he just dropped the water hose," said Hernandez.

To them, it felt like it took a lifetime for firefighters to get there -- knocking down the flames. Fresno Battalion Chief Bob Van Tassel says their resources were stretched thin because of another fire in the area, about two miles away. An abandoned doctor's office had caught fire less than an hour earlier.

"If they would have been here five minutes, just five minutes earlier," said Hernandez.

"I think it would have been saved."

Hernandez is just thankful everyone made it out alive, but the families forced out by the fire did not have renters insurance.