Updated April 1

A three-alarm fire destroyed an apartment complex under construction in Wilsonville early Sunday, then spilled over to destroy neighboring homes in the densely packed Villebois housing development.

Authorities said 20 condos were destroyed or suffered significant damage. The fire also torched 14 cars and trucks.

“Some folks reported seeing flames 100 feet in the air,” said Cassandra Ulven, public affairs chief for Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue.

Emergency responders reported no injuries but said as many as two-dozen people were displaced by the fire. The apartment complex, not yet occupied, was ruined.

The apartments that burned were in a neighborhood atop a large hill and the fire was at the very peak. Ulven said the orange glow and towering column of smoke were visible across the Willamette River in Canby.

Investigators said it may be some time before they determine the fire’s cause but the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office said it wants to know if witnesses “recall anything suspicious.”

The sheriff’s office said it will increase patrols in the area and wants any home surveillance video that captured “vehicles or people in the area during the fire or prior to the start.”

Emergency calls came in just about 1 a.m. from the Villebois development, according to Tualatin firefighters. Apartments and row houses are packed closely together in the complex, about a half-mile west of Interstate 5, and the blaze quickly spread to nearby homes.

Firefighters are protecting occupied builldings exposed to fire. Media staging on corner of Barber Street and Villebois Drive. TVF&R is being assisted by @CanbyFire and @aurorafire63 and @LakeOswegoFire. pic.twitter.com/OxLMpjq3NO — TVF&R (@TVFR) March 31, 2019

Neighbor Caleb Caudle awoke around 1 a.m. to sounds like a soft explosion or gunshot. He looked out his kitchen window and saw the fire burning on the hilltop, with flames leaping above the trees, and immediately told his wife to pack a bag for their daughter.

“I’m not a panic guy. I’m a pretty chill guy. That looked serious,” Caudle said. His home, though, was some distance from the blaze and wasn’t damaged.

The Lake Oswego Fire Department, Canby Fire District and Aurora Fire District joined Tualatin Valley firefighters. Caudle said they made immediate progress containing the fire.

“It was incredible,” he said. “They were on point and they took care of it. It was pretty intense.”

Still, firefighters worked through the night and authorities said they didn’t have the blaze fully under control until 4 a.m.

In addition to the 20 homes destroyed, or with significant damage, firefighters said the intense heat blew out windows or damaged the siding of dozens more homes.

Neighbor Roger Porzig left his home shortly after 1 a.m. to view the blaze and gauge the risk to his own home.

“By that time the fire was pretty involved,” he said. The new apartment building’s framework burned rapidly.

“Once that building had collapsed, other of the resident buildings had caught on fire,” Porzig said. He said he watched as firefighters tried to douse the fire as it burned through the roof of a nearby condo.

With daylight Sunday the full scale of the devastation was visible, depicted vividly in video from the scene.

Polygon Northwest, the developer responsible for the project, did not immediately respond to inquires Sunday about the blaze.

Firefighters remained on the scene Sunday morning to make sure hotspots don’t pop up among the wreckage. Investigators have just begun the process of determining how the fire started.

“It’s going to be an extensive process as far as the investigation goes,” Ulven said. She said authorities need to sort through the wreckage of the construction site, neighboring homes and vehicles destroyed by the fire.

“I can imagine this will be an investigation that continues throughout the week," Ulven said.

The sheriff is accepting tips at 503-655-8211 and online. The case number is 19-007264.

-- Mike Rogoway | twitter: @rogoway | 503-294-7699

Mark Graves contributed to this report.