Two homes in a southeast Calgary community were extensively damaged in a fire on Wednesday night and now two families are homeless.

Emergency crews were called to a fire on Erin Meadows Way S.E. at about 11:00 p.m.

When firefighters arrived, they found one home fully involved and the flames were already spreading to the roof of another home.

“Crews arrived on scene here and found two houses fully involved in fire,” said Acting District Chief Wayne Bonderud with the Calgary Fire Department. “Crews did a quick knock down. There were four people in one house and one in the other. All got out safe and there was no injuries.”

Crews were able to get the fire under control quickly but two homes suffered extensive damage and two other homes had minor damage to the exteriors.

"The crews did a really quick knockdown and people were out of the house before the fire crews arrived," said Bonderud. "The people back in the houses on either side will be going back in their houses tonight."

Ken Chung was asleep in his home and was woken up by the flames.

“When I woke up I see my wall is lights on and it’s red,” said Chung. “So I wondered what is that? What is that flame? And then when I looked through the window I saw the house on this side, it had a flame go through, fire.”

Chung says the only thing he was thinking about was getting his family out safely.

“I wake up my wife and then my wife and me go and grab the kids and then we hurried to get out. The flames were very fast, very fast and then it came through my son’s and my daughter’s room and then we just get a jacket and I wanted to go get my phone and the flames were already through the kitchen area and so I just get out,” he said.

Chung says he and his family have lived in the home for about three years and do have insurance.

Elizabeth Cochrane lives in the other house and scrambled to save her pets. She was able to get her two dogs out but her two cats didn’t make it.

“I woke up and my house was already entrenched in fire and I just barely got out with my dogs and I’m just devastated because I’ve lost a couple animals, I’m by myself and that’s all I have is them,” she said.

She says she also has insurance and neighbours have offered to help out.

“I’ve had people come and offer me help and take in my elderly dog and take in my other dog and stuff so,” said Cochrane. “I just want to thank my neighbours for all their help that they’ve done.”

Ken McClary lives nearby and says he was woken up by his wife who said someone was knocking on their door. "I came downstairs to see what was going on and I stepped out onto my front porch and there was a little bit of fire coming out between two houses down the block. I went back inside and got a coat on, and by the time I was back outside it was fully engulfed in flames."

McClary says the fire department was already there dealing with the fire. He is a home builder and says that he's experienced with how house fires work. "We have seen them go up that fast, they double in size every 30 seconds. It's surprising enough that it was five doors away."

Fire crews remain at the scene to monitor hot spots and investigators are working to determine a cause.

Officials say that preliminary reports indicate that the homes did have working smoke alarms.