ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - A fire at a downtown Albany apartment complex displaced a family and prompted police to issue a smoke advisory for the surrounding area.

The fire broke out at an apartment complex near West Broad Avenue and West Oglethorpe Boulevard. Nastassja Nunally, who lived in the complex with her children, said the smell of smoke woke her up.

“I woke up this morning, I smelled smoke, and I didn’t, uh, I got up and, uh. The smoke was coming out of my kitchen, and when I opened up my front door, it was engulfed like black smoke. I told my children, come on, let’s get out and we ran out the apartment,” Nunally said.

The smoke from the apartment spread so quickly it caused the Albany Police Department to issue a smoke advisory for the area. Nunally said she didn’t realize the magnitude of the situation until she got outside.

“I looked at the other side of the apartment, and it was on fire. The opposite side of me wasn’t my apartment. It was the downstairs apartment on fire,” she said.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, according to the Albany Fire Department. Nunally said that despite not being able to recover anything from her apartment, her only priority was making sure her children were safe.

“I’m glad that me and my children got out and just just I’m just glad that me and my children got out,” she said.

Nunally is receiving help from the Red Cross. She also set up a GoFundMe page.

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