HOUSTON -- Residents of a northwest Houston apartment complex helped their neighbors escape from a burning building early Thursday, KPRC Local 2 reported.

Houston firefighters said the two-alarm fire started at the Antoine Forest Estates on Holly View Drive near Oak Bay Drive at about 1 a.m.

Flames crawled through the attic and shot through the chimney.

"It just started coming out of the chimney there," Antoinette Jackson said.

One resident said he smelled smoke and his first instinct was to make sure all of his neighbors got out safely.

"We went around and got everybody out of their apartments," Gentry Wilson said. "Banging and kicking on the doors, we got everybody out. That's the only thing that mattered."

Firefighters said the fire spread quickly.

"It spread into the attic," Deputy Chief Terry Stone said. "The attic, being able to run the whole building, is always our concern."

Residents said they were worried that they would not have much left.

"It's devastating because you have to start all over again," Jackson said. "We don't have no money to start all over again."

Crews said eight apartments were damaged.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.