A century-old house at 609 Locust St. rented out as apartments was destroyed by fire Friday, leaving at least 14 people homeless. It was the second apartment fire in Vicksburg this week.

No one was seriously injured and all its tenants are accounted for, Vicksburg fire investigator Leslie Decareaux said.

&#8220I thank God to be alive,” said Milton McGee, who escaped his middle-floor room with a scratch on the thumb and the shorts on his body.

&#8220It was so fast and so crazy,” said McGee, who had lived in the house since September.

The Seattle native was awakened by the smell of smoke, he said. Eventually, he made his way to an upper floor window, where he leapt to a small balcony roof. He credited his rescue to an aerial ladder unit.

Smoke billowed from the roof and could be seen for several blocks around the two-story, wood frame home, owned by local construction company owner Freddie Parson. Flames tore through the middle of the roof about an hour after Vicksburg firefighters arrived on scene about 9:45 a.m.

Officials on the scene with the Vicksburg Area Chapter of the American Red Cross, still providing help to tenants of The Crossings apartment complex left homeless by a fire there Wednesday, said among the survivors from the top floor of the house is a family of five with a 15-month old boy.

Financial assistance and help with clothing will be provided to the tenants in need, emergency services director Janice Sawyer said.

The blaze is believed to have started in the rear of the house and inside one of three attics present in the house, Deputy Chief Rose Shaifer said at the scene.

Fire officials said Parson was in Jackson at the time of the fire. His wife, Kim, stood outside just beyond Ladder 14, which sprayed jets of water on the smoldering house for more than two hours.

&#8220I was at the store when Freddie called me,” she said. &#8220It was such an old, beautiful house. To see it burn up like this…”

A cause of the fire is still being investigated, Decareaux said, and will not be determined until sometime next week.