Six people escape New Year's Day house fire in east London, Ont.

A family of five is displaced after fire ripped through their townhouse unit at 127 Toulon Cres. in the east end of London, Ont. Saturday morning.

Fire crews were dispatched after multiple 911 calls came in at 10:42 a.m.

"Our 10 company fire station very close by so we were able to put an aggressive attack together and knock down the fire," said Platoon Chief Colin Shewell. "There was definitely heavy smoke and fire, and it could have been a lot worse with the attic area but we had it under control less than an hour after the calls," he told CTV News at the scene.

There were six people in the home at the time a couch caught on fire. Five residents, two adults and three kids, as well as the sister of the woman who lives in the home.

"She was sleeping on the couch right where the fire started," the woman told CTV News.

None of them were fully dressed, and had to get out of the house as fast as they could. The father who lives in the home was seen shivering as he stood outside waiting for news from fire officials.

"They're good friends of mine man I feel real bad," said Kevin House, who lives a few doors down. "The guy was trying to better their own situation recently. He's working on setting up his own mining stuff on his own property and it has taken them a long time. They've struggled a long time, so this is this is really bad for them."

Another neighbour who lives next door in Unit 129, frantically described his experience.

"I was sleeping on the couch and boom, boom, boom,” as he described someone pounding on his door."

The man only identified by his nickname 'Smoke,' tells CTV News he grabbed everything he could.

“I try to find my cat, and I ran out the house. I was still sleeping, like at first I thought I was dreaming or something, then I realized it was real life. I got out but by then it was already all smoking. I was almost toasted."

The fire investigation is underway and Chief Shewell estimates the damage at around $400,000.

While the initial worry was multiple units would be destroyed, crews managed to contain the fire.

"They did an awesome job, knocking it down, keeping it contained to the attic area of the townhouse in origin," said Shewell. "There was some smoke migration in the neighboring townhouse, but I think all in all it's a good news story that we're able to contain it to the townhouse of origin."

The mother who lives in Unit 127 say she has a large extended family, and will have a place to go even if it means they need to "divide the family for a couple of days."