Three families are without a home after an early morning fire in Elizabethton ripped through their apartment building.

Investigators tell say the fire started around 2:40 a.m. Monday morning in a three-unit apartment building on Milligan Highway.

Firefighters say there were close a dozen people in the apartments at the time, but they all made it out before fire crews arrived.

According to firefighters, the flames spread quickly in the space between an old roof and a new roof.

The cause is still under investigation.