EVERETT, Wash. - A man was killed in a two-alarm fire that swept with lightning speed through an aging apartment building and sent a thick column of smoke over Everett's downtown Saturday morning.

Fire crews at 6 a.m. rushed to the building in the 3100 block of Lombard Avenue as flames were shooting from the building's upper floors.

Many residents barely escaped with their lives - and one man didn't make it.

After the blaze was extinguished, investigators combed through the building and found a person dead in a ground level apartment, said Sgt. Robert Goetz of the Everett police.

The identity of the victim has not been established, and even the victim's gender could not be determined at first because the body was burned so badly. Investigators later determined it to be a male.

Residents said the flames spread quickly through the older building - creating a scene of pandemonium and confusion for everyone trying to escape.

"I live in No. 2 and I opened my front door and the fire was coming out of No. 1," said Doris Lopez. "It was really, really scary."

Heather Doyle, who lived in another unit, grabbed her baby and escaped as the flames crackled and dense smoke billowed all around her.

"Ohhh, that's the worst feeling ever. It just - all the smoke and trying to keep the baby from getting the smoke in her mouth," she said.

Investigators said it's not clear why the lone victim was unable to escape.

Many tenants say they never heard any smoke alarms go off. And some say they recently complained about not having any heat, so a lot of people were using portable heaters.

Police said there is no indication that this fire was arson, but they are treating the fire as a crime scene, for the time being, because there was a fatality. Major crimes detectives, including arson investigators, have been called to the scene to assist in the investigation.

The apartment building is a two-story structure that had eight apartments. Eighteen residents of the apartment building escaped and are being cared for by the Everett chapter of the American Red Cross.

Everett Fire Marshal Glen Martinsen said firefighters responding to another call reported seeing a column of smoke from the apartment fire and converged on the building.

Martinsen said people in the upstairs units reported smelling smoke and heard the sound of something breaking.

Firefighters went through the building, alerting occupants and opening doors.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Now the building's former residents wonder what they'll do next.

Doyle said she lost everything in the blaze.

"All my stuff. Everything. All my roommate's stuff. All her baby's stuff. She wasn't able to get anything out."