Fire destroyed two units at the Loma Del Rey apartment complex Wednesday morning, and three more units sustained water and other damage.

Fire Marshal Rick Jones said the likely cause of the blaze was a cigarette. Two male roommates left an apartment about an hour before someone noticed smoke, he said.

“It originated in a bedroom on a sofa,” Jones said. “The occupants smoke, and we believe that is the most likely reason for a fire there.”

Jones estimated damage at between $150,000 and $200,000. He said insurance company investigators would take up the investigation.

Firefighters responded to numerous reports of smoke visible from the apartments in the 600 block of North Loop 288 about 6:45 a.m. Two second-floor apartments were burning. Battalion Chief Cort Higgins said he called for a second alarm — which would have brought more firefighters and equipment — when he saw flames shooting from the apartment roof, but he canceled the second alarm because the first firefighters to arrive acted aggressively and stopped the fire quickly.

“They got a good stop on it,” he said. “And a truck crew went into the two bottom-floor apartments and covered up the valuables, so they saved a lot of property from smoke and water damage.”

The complex was built before city codes required firewalls that impede flames from crossing in open attic space and affecting other apartments, Higgins said. So the fire traveled to an apartment just in front of the original fire and burned that one out, too.

The flames traveled above another apartment. Firefighters were able to pull down the ceiling of that apartment and get to the fire there before it burned inside the apartment.

Battalion Chief Ken Gold said the quick action likely saved other apartments in the eight-unit building.

“They attacked with a deuce-and-a-half [the largest hand-held water line the department uses] and that made all the difference,” Gold said.

Loma Del Rey manager Larry Mullen worked with the American Red Cross and the Denton FireCats support group Wednesday to find shelter and emergency supplies for the residents of the affected apartments. The Red Cross provided food for a breakfast meeting.

Mullen said he would meet twice daily with the affected residents until their situations are resolved.

“We are working out the number of apartments we’re going to need,” Mullen said. “We’re lucky that right now it’s the time of month when people have moved out and other people have not yet moved in. I have five units open. I’ll have to notify people who planned on moving in that we have to use the units for these people. Our residents come first.”

DONNA FIELDER can be reached at 940-566-6885. Her e-mail address is dfielder@dentonrc.com