Residents of an apartment complex at 8609 Locust Ave. in Bonney Lake woke to smoke and flames early Monday morning. No one was injured in the fire that destroyed the building.

A passerby who saw flames shooting from the first unit at the east end of the single-story five-plex, called 9-1-1 to report the fire, then knocked on doors to alert the occupants of the other units. Residents said they did not hear any smoke alarms.

The blaze began around 4 a.m. in an unoccupied unit, allowing the flames to fully-engulf the apartment before it was spotted. The smoke was so dense that firefighters at East Pierce Fire and Rescue's headquarters station two blocks away said they could smell it as they raced to their rigs.

It took firefighters from East Pierce, Sumner, Puyallup, Buckley and Auburn an hour and a half to knock down the two-alarm blaze.

&#8220It was a single-story complex with a common attic running the length of the building,” East Pierce Fire Chief Dan Packer said. &#8220The only way to effectively stop the fire was to get ahead of it.”

Firefighters set up a defensive position in unit three and worked toward the fire, pulling down the ceiling to cut it off. While the firefighters were inside the building, the rest of the crew was forced to let unit one continue to burn. &#8220Putting water on that unit would have driven the flames back toward the firefighters inside,” Packer said. &#8220That apartment was already destroyed. We had to do what we could to save the rest of the building.”

No other structures were damaged in the fire.

As 20-foot flames shot into the air, the residents shivered in the freezing temperatures. One resident said she was just happy to have escaped with her children and their pets.

A chaplain who works with East Pierce helped to coordinate shelter, clothing and food for ten residents through the American Red Cross, Mount Rainier Chapter.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.