SHREWSBURY — More than a dozen families were searching for new homes and picking up pieces of their lives Monday after losing most of their belongings in a fire that started with a space heater and swept through their apartment building Sunday morning.

"It hurts. I lost everything," said Arlene Holt, 42, as she stood outside the River Crest Apartments at 7077 Nottingham Avenue and spoke with neighbors. "I tried to work all my life, strived to make my apartment nice and to do good in life.

"I know I'm going to have to move on, but right now my biggest issue is knowing where I'm going to live and what's going to happen tomorrow and the next day."

Holt said she was grateful that she and her daughter Felicia, 17, and her neighbors escaped without harm. "I said, 'Thank you, Jesus'."

On Monday a sign posted outside the L-shaped 18-unit building read "Unsafe for occupancy."

Shrewsbury Fire Chief William Fox said that smoke alarms installed by the owner in the bedrooms of the River Crest apartments had contributed to saving lives in the fire.

T.J. Fields, maintenance supervisor for property manager Apollo Rentals, said that the company also had installed smoke detectors in hallways and communal areas that sounded on Sunday morning. Apollo is trying to relocate residents to other properties it owns.

Fox said that a tenant of a second-floor apartment told investigators that the fire started when his 6-year-old son stuck sheets of paper in a space heater and then tried to put the fire out with his blanket, which also caught fire. His father then tried to put out the flames. "By that time, the fire had taken off," Fox said.

Although the building sustained fire, smoke and water damage, and some ceilings collapsed, the structure still was fairly intact, Fox said. Dozens of firefighters battled the three-alarm fire, which was out in about an hour, he said. After a false scare that two firefighters were injured, crews stayed on until after noon.

Holt said that about 7:50 a.m. Sunday, she called 911 and banged on the doors of neighbors and screamed to wake them up.

"I ran to the other side and a neighbor who was blind yelled 'take my babies, take my babies' and handed her kids out the window to me and my daughter," Holt said.

Other tenants escaped using a ladder of sheets tied together. Others were rescued by firefighters and police.

Amanda Magruder, 25, jumped from a high first-floor window of her apartment. She's staying with family now.

The American Red Cross was continuing to help many of the tenants Monday. The agency provided shelter to six families and food and clothing to eight, helping 24 people in all, Red Cross spokesperson Katie Nagus said.

Holt and her daughter, for instance, got hotel lodging for three nights and some money for food and clothes.

Red Cross caseworker Elaine Hegel said that people in these circumstances "have to take a step at a time" because their "worlds fall apart."

A giant moving truck was parked on the lawn Monday, and five-year resident Katherine Bruckner was moving out what she could salvage with the help of friends.

"Did my picture get ruined?" she asked about a poster of the Flood of '93. Yes, it had some water damage, a friend reluctantly told her.