Sharee McLendon was asleep in her second-floor bedroom at River's Edge Townhomes in Ypsilanti Township this morning when a man pounded on her front door.

Her boyfriend answered the door and raced back upstairs to tell McClendon everyone had to get out because the building was on fire, she said. She hurried outside with her 10-year-old son, three daughters ages 8, 6 and 3, and 18-week-old puppy.

A fire at River's Edge Townhomes displaced 18 residents this morning.

Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com

"By the time we got outside, the flames were shooting through the roof and spreading to our apartment...," she said. "I'm traumatized, trying to figure out how I'm gonna come back up from this."

McClendon was one of about 18 people displaced by the blaze that was reported at 3:51 a.m. at the Villa Drive complex, Ypsilanti Township Fire Chief Eric Copeland said. No one was injured.

The fire started in a faulty exhaust fan in a second-floor bathroom in an end unit in Building 12. Residents in that unit woke up about 1 a.m. to the smell of smoke, saw a small fire in the fan and attempted to extinguish it with a fire extinguisher. They thought it was out so they didn't call 911, but stayed up and ordered a pizza, Copeland said. 

About two hours later, they heard a crackling noise and noticed the fire had spread into the attic, fire officials said. It moved across the attic space to McClendon's unit and others. The residents went outside to alert people.

"They knocked on as many doors as they could," Copeland said.

The fire seriously damaged six of eight units in the two-story building and caused an estimated $250,000 damage, fire officials said. One unit was vacant. At one point, there was an explosion in one unit, which Copeland said may have been from natural gas.

Thirty-three firefighters responded, including ones from Superior Township, Ypsilanti and Pittsfield Township. It took 40 minutes to get the fire under control.

The Red Cross is assisting those displaced with food and shelter. Victoria Willbond, a regional manager for Pinnacle Management, which manages the complex, is working to find people shelter.

"We're gonna work diligently on placing them in other townhomes and apartments," she said.

Jenny Medina, her fiancee and daughters, ages 8 and 6, were displaced, but she's hopeful she'll be able to salvage some belongings. Her unit suffered only smoke damage, she said.

"I thought the whole building was gonna go," she said. "I'm very thankful for the firefighters. They did everything they could."

Lee Higgins covers crime and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached by phone at (734) 623-2527 and email at leehiggins@annarbor.com.