CHESAPEAKE -- Two Chesapeake families were lucky to get out of their burning apartment alive Monday night.
Firefighters say they arrived at the Parkside Drive apartment complex to find flames pouring from apartments on the first and second floors and the attic.
They quickly got it under control, but the damage to the apartments was extensive and little could be salvaged.
Everyone that lived in the apartment building was able to get out safely.
Residents said everything happened so quickly, they didn't have time to think. They could only grab their loved ones and run outside with only the clothes on their backs.
Two families lost their apartments and all of their belongings.
The families, each with young children, are now trying to figure out what their next steps will be.
One mother of five said she knows exactly how the fire started. She said her two-year-old son accidentally tipped over a burning candle in the bedroom.
"He went in there and opened the door and knocked it over, I did have the door shut, but he's old enough now to open the door, but I'm just glad that we all got out safely, me and my children," said Ivenia White.
Investigators say that's consistent with the evidence they've gathered.
Two units are uninhabitable; people living in two other units couldn't stay there Monday night because utilities had been cut off. They were expected to return to their homes Tuesday, according to fire officials.
