TROY — Fire gutted an apartment building in South Troy and chased more than a dozen people from their home.

No one was injured in the fire Thursday night at the Cottage Street apartment complex, Fir Chief Tom Garrett said.

The Red Cross on Friday said they were supplying shelter, food and clothing to 17 people who lived in the building, one of several structures in the apartment complex.

The call came in at 8:45 p.m. Thursday. It took firefighters about 40 minutes to extinguish the bulk of the flames.

Witnesses said the flames appeared to start in the attic of the two-story structure. The cause was not released on Friday.

A fire hydrant on the grounds of the complex was not working, residents said, forcing firefighters to stretch a hose down the street to a working hydrant.

The complex, which was built in the 1960s, was not required to have sprinklers and did not have them, the chief said.

Mayor Patrick Madden was at the scene.

Roommates Morgan Hems and Lindsey Duffy, both 23, said they smelled a faint scent of smoke when officials started knocking on their door and telling them to get out. They never heard any smoke detectors go off, they said.

"We're lucky because at least we have our parents to fall back on, you know?" said Duffy. "Not everyone has that option."

A 29-year-old resident by the name of Brittany lived there with her boyfriend and 6-year-old daughter. She said she doesn't know where they will go or what they will do now.