A fire broke out last Sunday at an apartment complex on Main Street in Bridgeport. It took the lives of three small children, and many of the tenants in the building were affected, including a Barbara Owens, who has lived there for 12 years.

"I was shaken up, because it was the only home that I had and I've lived there a long time and then to be uprooted," Owens said.

Owens lived in apartment 313 and said she was at church at the time she got the news of the fire, and hurried home.

She lived there with her pet cat. The cat escaped the fire, but it hasn't been seen since.

She was able to go back to her apartment after the fire was extinguished and grab a few smoke-filled clothes, but everything else in her apartment was gone.

"Everything is basically destroyed and it was heavily smoke and water damage and ceiling tiles and everything fell down, all of the windows broke out of it, you know, so yeah, I'd say it was basically no good."

The fire affected Owens, her 93-year-old mother, her brother and four other families, including the three children who died; their parents are fighting for their own lives at a Pittsburgh hospital.

Owens does share the same last name as the children, but is no relation to them.

She said there should have been stricter codes for the landlord and if it wasn't for her church family helping her out so much, she would be on the streets.

Owens is currently staying at the Wheeling Inn Hotel, and is able to reside there until Monday morning.

She is in the process of looking for a new home.

"Cause I'll definitely need a place to live because I'll be considered homeless."

The building was in poor condition. The cause of the fire is still undetermined, and officials are waiting on the autopsies of the children.