Although 18 units were damaged or destroyed and 25 people were displaced, according to the Red Cross, no one was injured.

"The firemen were very swift and did a very good job," said apartment manager Charo Feliciano. "Everybody is just happy to be alive."

She said many of the residents were moved to apartments within the complex.

Others were off-island, she said, and still don't know their homes have been destroyed or damaged.

Many residents were military people in transit or those who had just moved from the Mainland.

Anthony Williams had just moved from Louisiana to work as a contractor for Hawaiian Electric. He was awake, watching sports on television, when he heard a noise that sounded like fire and opened his door.

The apartment next to his was ablaze, and he could see flames eating through the wall next to his bed. He grabbed a piece of luggage — still packed with five shirts — and went screaming down the walkway for his neighbors to get out. Other neighbors were doing the same, he said.

He said he had intended to return to his apartment as he made his way back past it, but when he looked inside, the wall was collapsing. Except for the clothes he wore and the five shirts in the bag he grabbed, he had lost everything — including his wallet.

"I had a bank account," he said. "But I guess I won't be able to get into it for a few days."

Williams said he moved to another apartment in the complex, and the Red Cross is helping with clothes and food until he can access his money.

"Some people didn't need anything," said Ron Foster, a Red Cross volunteer who stopped by yesterday afternoon. "Some people needed everything."

Only part of the back wall of the upper story of the building where Williams had lived remained standing yesterday. Those six upper units were destroyed.

Eric Flores, on the lower floor in the building next to Williams', heard the ruckus and opened his door to investigate.

"The heat was so bad I had to shut the door," he said. "And the door was turning orange."

He called out to his wife, mother-in-law and three children to come into the front room. When everyone had lined up, he opened the door again, and they ran.

The paint was blistered on the wall near his door yesterday, and a louver on his window was warped and broken.

The contents of his apartment were safe, but Flores said he had found temporary shelter in military housing.

"The children don't want to move back to Pepper Tree," Flores, a soldier, said. "We felt trapped."

Ken Roman, who works for the Navy and lives next to Flores, said he heard people yelling "fire" and stepped outside his door and saw a man trying to control the flames with a garden hose.

Embers were jumping from the blaze and onto the roof of his building and another nearby building. He got his wife and son and they ran.

The residents of the complex emptied out into the street and and watched as firefighters worked until nearly 4 a.m.

Fire Capt. Emmit Kane said the fire was caused by a resident who was cooking and left his stove unattended.

The blaze was estimated to have caused $480,000 in damages.