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At least 12 people are homeless after a devastating fire destroyed a house in Baltimore on Thursday morning.

Though the cause is under investigation, fire officials say hoarding inside one of the apartments complicated the efforts of firefighters.

Five fire departments tried for several hours to bring the blaze under control. In the end, a two-storey house in which seven people lived was lost, a former restaurant was lost and another home suffered major damage. All the buildings were attached.

Heather Willert was the only one inside the upper part of the home, located just south of the store on County Road 45 in Baltimore, when the fire broke out.

She said she was on the phone to her son and "smelled something funny," and told him she would call back.

"I went downstairs and there was smoke seeping into my front door," she said.

Willert and her husband Ken Kimball had just moved into the upper apartment four days ago.

Her daughter, two other adults, a five-month-old boy and a four-year-old girl lived in the downstairs apartment.

"I took my keys to (my daughter's) apartment and opened it," Willert said. "The minute I opened the outer door the smoke billowed out so I just closed it."

Willert flagged down a passing motorist who called 9-1-1 at 9:27 a.m.

She got her two dogs out, and one cat, but four cats and five kittens are believed to have perished in the blaze.

Pat Gaudet was one of the residents of the downstairs apartment. He said he left shortly before 8 a.m. for work in Cobourg.

He received a call at work notifying him there was an emergency at home.

Arriving at the scene, Gaudet could only stand by and watch flames devour his apartment.

"We lost everything," he said. "Everything we own was in there."

No one inside the home had insurance.

Baltimore Fire Chief Ken Clapperton said the problem started in the middle of the building between a former restaurant and the home converted into apartments.

Initial crews entered the building wearing breathing apparatus, but because of rapidly deteriorating conditions exited the building and fought the fire from the outside.

"We got in, but we couldn't stay in there. Because of a flashover we had to do it from the outside," Clapperton said.

Adding to the mix were the fact that the fire was near an electrical panel and the hoarding situation inside one of the apartments.

"We couldn't get into the apartment to stop the fire from going on to the next apartment," Clapperton said. "Therefore we lost more than we would have had the hoarding situation not been there."

At least three buildings are joined and the fire is believed to have spread through the attic area of the roof.

"The building has been added on to over the years and we had trouble getting to the base of the problem," Clapperton said.

Fire crews from Baltimore, Bewdley, Harwood, Alnwick/Haldimand Township and Cobourg were called in to help prevent the blaze from spreading.

"When it broke through into the restaurant part we almost had it," Clapperton said. "We thought we had it but it went on into another addition and went into the back apartment."

Clapperton said the blaze was "very frustrating," with the fire burning out of control for several hours.

Reports are seven people lived in the home, one person lived in the former restaurant and four people lived in other apartments attached to the former restaurant.

Damage is estimated at well in excess of $500,000 and the Ontario Fire Marshal's office has been called in to investigate.