As Betsy Randazzo of Raymond spent Wednesday morning visiting a building in The Crossings apartment complex to baby-sit her 9-month-old niece, she heard commotion coming from the roof. At first she thought nothing of it.

&#8220To me it just sounded like there was just a little construction going on up there,” Randazzo said.

But Randazzo would soon realize differently, as she began to see smoke outside the window. She then grabbed her infant niece and hurried outside.

Randazzo would quickly learn those sounds coming from the roof were a fire, which, within minutes, would destroy all eight apartments in Building 18, six of which were leased.

&#8220I was just planning on having a play day with my new niece, but I guess that didn’t work out, did it?” Randazzo said.

The fire at The Crossings was reported at 9:23 a.m., said Stephen Scott of the Vicksburg Police Department. Fire crews arrived minutes later, and flames were already visible from outside the building.

&#8220The fire was so intense by the time we arrived because the fire was so well hidden in the attic for quite some time,” said Leslie Decareaux, an arson investigator for Vicksburg Fire Department.

Despite the intensity, no injuries were reported.

By Wednesday afternoon, fire officials determined the fire to be &#8220accidental,” saying it had ignited due to an electrical fault in the laundry room of one of the apartments and then moved into the attic.

Casey Stokes and her child were two of those residents left without a home.

&#8220It’s tough to say what will happen at this point,” Stokes said. &#8220But I suppose I’ll just live with family nearby until I can figure something out.”

For the displaced residents who don’t have family or friends in the area, the American Red Cross of Vicksburg said it will help.

&#8220We’ll provide temporary housing for any of these people until they find another apartment,” said John Black, volunteer for the American Red Cross. &#8220We would normally open up a shelter, but with the smaller amount of people we have in this situation, we’ll probably use hotels to house them.”

While many of the displaced residents contemplated housing and other aspects of the disaster, one woman’s worries were centered on her pets.

Tina Jones had three cats in her apartment when the building caught fire. When Jones’ roommate rushed to evacuate the apartment, she was able to grab only two of them, leaving the third, Baby, inside the blazing building.

However, once the fire was out, Decareaux made an interesting discovery during the investigation.

&#8220I could see these two little eyes coming from underneath one of the pillows, and sure enough it was her cat,” Decareaux said. &#8220It is absolutely amazing that this cat is alive. I’m just not quite sure how it made it.”

After the reunion, Jones put everything into perspective. &#8220As long as everybody’s OK and my cats are alive, then everything is fine,” Jones said. &#8220I can replace everything else in that apartment with insurance.”