Mr Bell, who has lived in the unit for several years, said the fire alarms sounded at 1am.

He, and other neighbours, Grant Oram and Keith Dillon made it out onto the landing at the rear of the premises.

One neighbour, Grant Oram, was fighting the flames below with one of the four fire hoses in the building after Mr Dillon turned on the hose.

Mr Oram got some assistance from a couple of young males who had raced upstairs after they had been walking along Otho Street.

Mr Bell said it was at this time that two young police officers arrived.

They had been flagged down by business owner Katrina Shailer who had also rang triple 0.

The fire brigade arrived about eight minutes later.

In the meantime the police officers evacuated the residents, including asking Mr Oram to leave the roof where he was continuing to try and fight the blaze.

Mr Bell gave police a quick blueprint of the building, and told them which residents may still be inside. The police officers then burst their way into several units.

They rescued Peter Garmeister, who was asleep in unit seven.

In unit 11, Andrew Passlow was just about to leave his premises when police burst through the door.

Watching from over the road the residents could only watch as the fire brigade arrived and the building burned.

“Once it took off it was just an inferno,” Mr Bell said.

Since the fire Mr Bell said some misinformation had started to spread.

A report from police media initially led to reports that the fire had been reported at 1.30pm.

But as Mr Bell pointed out, residents were watching the fire fighters try and fight the blaze by that time.

The fire was first reported shortly after 1am and the fire brigade arrived about eight minutes later.

It appears the fire started in the Legacy office, but Mr Bell said some rumours were saying it had started in an upstairs room.

Since the weekend Mr Bell has been staying with friends.

“People have been very generous,” he said.