Firefighters were called to a blaze at the four-storey complex on Noel Street at 11.39am Saturday.

They searched the burning apartments for a group of residents thought to be inside and, finding the unit clear, evacuated the rest of the building.

Wollongong duty commander Don Pescud said the fire began in a master bedroom of a first floor apartment that was totally destroyed by the blaze.

The apartment immediately above the point of ignition was also badly damaged by smoke and water.

‘‘Our investigation into the cause is ongoing,’’ Insp Pescud said.

‘‘At this point there are no suspicious circumstances. We have police forensic services and our own fire investigators on sight, doing what we call a dig. They’re going through the layers of collapsed material to find [the cause].’’

Power and water supplies to the complex were suspended for several hours.

Some residents appeared to comfort one another as they waited outside to regain access to their homes. 

Several residents told the Mercury they dismissed the sounds of fire alarm as a false alarm before they noticed the smells and sounds of the fire, and heard the directions of firefighters.

Jessica Newman left the building through a fire door, but turned back when she was coming up a stairwell and narrowly avoided an explosion of glass from the burning apartment’s front window.

‘‘I could hear fire burning quite close and it was really smoky. All I wanted to do was get out safely,’’ she said.

Rhiannon Harris was driving down Noel Street when she noticed flames coming out of the apartment window and dialled Triple-0. 

‘‘I could feel the heat coming out of it from across the street,’’ she said. 

Residents in all but three apartments were later returned to their apartments and the water and power supplies were restored. 

Inspector Pescud said responding fire crews took exactly five minutes to reach the blaze, and this had contributed greatly to containing the fire.

‘‘The initial crews had to break open two doors along the way and they still got water pretty quickly. That is really fast, quality firefighting,’’ he said. 

‘‘It could have easily gone through more walls and gone into other units. It was quite a good save.’’