They were given 10 minutes to look for and gather their belongings.
Later Thursday afternoon, people gathered again at the fire company for a meeting, where officials made themselves available to answer any questions they could.
"They gather the us together to tell us nothing," said fire victim Ray Muller. "I detect no sense of urgency from the city fathers, as it were."
Despite the devastation, there was some good news. Action News saw a number of people reunited with their pets. Sadly, not everyone found what they were looking for.
"The fire department broke into our apartment," Abraham Kourban said. "They saved one dog, and the other... nowhere to be found."
For many forced out by the massive fire, the anxiety and anguish is getting to be too much. They escaped with their lives but many lost absolutely everything, and now for some, frustration is building.
"What do we do looking forward to the future with this?" said resident Eric Bergum. "Because obviously these buildings went up pretty fast, and I'm not sure I want to be around for act two, if you know what I mean."
Relief and government agencies from the Red Cross to PennDOT are now helping the fire victims.
