Dozens of people lost their homes after a massive fire tore through a nearly century-old apartment building in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood on Tuesday.

It took firefighters more than four and a half hours to get the blaze on Forward Avenue under control. Pittsburgh Public Safety said as many as 30 residents have been displaced. Now those residents have to figure out what's next.

"Well, I was in the bathroom, and I smelled smoke in my building and I opened my apartment and there was a neighbor saying 'there's a fire, you gotta get out,'" said David Lineweber.  

Still in their robes and pajamas after being evacuated just after 8 a.m., residents watched in horror as flames destroyed their building. 

What looked like one small fire on the end of the building soon had the entire building burning due to its 1920s architecture of brick and full wood framing. 

"It's kind of surreal, honestly. I wasn't on the third floor, like I said, so I wasn't in immediate danger but seeing them work on it, and then seeing it look like it calmed down for a bit and then flare up, then suddenly the roof collapsed. It's a lot to take in all at once," one resident said.

Everything inside was lost, but everyone inside was saved. All the residents got out, and no one was killed or even injured. Public Safety said two cats were rescued, but a third was found dead. 

Resident Alena Yergabagea and many of her friends fled Russia a few months ago, only to lose everything, including important documents, in this fire. 

"I'm so nervous, you know, I'm shaking and trembling," Yergabagea said. 

When KDKA-TV talked to Judy Anne Wakefield, she was worried about her cat.

"My kitty, she's in there by herself on the bottom floor." But she added, "The firemen, they were fabulous, they got us right out." 

Shariful Islam, a Carnegie Mellon University graduate student, lives in the building. His brother, Waliuk Islam, drove from Baltimore on Tuesday to check on his sibling 

"I was so terrified," Waliuk Islam said. "I was so scared because he's my younger brother. My mom was crying, everybody is crying." 

A fire of this magnitude required priorities from the top. 

"Part of that life safety is evacuating people, or rescuing them if need be, getting them outside, making sure they're OK," said Pittsburgh Fire Chief Darryl Jones. 

The Red Cross said it is helping residents impacted by the fire. The nonprofit opened a shelter at the Greenfield Recreation Center. 

The fire is under investigation.