28 People Homeless After Fire In North Sacramento

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - A 2-alarm blaze destroyed an entire unit and damaged three others in the 600 block of Bowles Street in Sacramento on Sunday, leaving 19 kids and nine adults without a home.

Friends and neighbors try to console Christine Jauregui as she and her family tried to clean up the damage to her home. Their apartment unit was completely destroyed. It's not the Mother's Day she was expecting, but she is proud of her 17-year-old son, whose quick thinking may have saved the lives of her six other children.

"I smelt (the smoke), so I started looking around for it. And I ended up finding out it was in my mom's room," explained Jason Andrada.

He was home with his six brothers and sisters. Once he noticed smoke coming from his parent's bedroom, he grabbed his brothers and sisters and got them to safety. He and his sister then warned neighbors.

"I was freaking out. It was crazy. I got all the kids out, then the neighbors," he said.

Jacob Yates and his family of five are among those who survived with minor damage to their unit. They are thankful to be alive, but struggling with what to do next.

"It's a little tough. I got to figure out what I am going to do with the family," he said as he sat outside the with one of his young daughters asleep in his arms.

He, along with the other neighbor, were waiting to be allowed back in the apartments to grab a few items before the an entire apartment complex was boarded up.

The fire broke out around 2:30 p.m.

Fire crews spent much of the afternoon removing items from the Andrada house, as investigators try to determine the cause of the fire.

Battalion Chief Rusty Van Vuren says crews attacked the fire from the front of the house and the roof, but then had to quickly move to put a tree to keep the fire from spreading.

"They were able to knock the tree as it was extending into this two-story building beside it ,and it managed to keep the fire out of the apartments in the adjacent buildings," said Van Vuren.

"I went to go pick up my daughter and my ex-called and said the house is on fire," said Shena Thayer, whose house suffered the least damage.

She still doesn't how much she lost. But as a mother on this Mother's Day, she says it's all about the kids. "All the units have multiple kids, and all the kids got out. So, that's what matters," said Thayer.