"When I came back, the whole roof was in flames," Maldonado said. "It was very bad."

Rather than despair, she and her husband, Angel, summoned some friends late Tuesday afternoon and removed what remained of their belongings — including bedroom furniture — from their second floor unit. "We lost some of our furniture, but we'll get another apartment," her husband, a retired grocery store owner, said. "We'll stay with our daughter in New Haven for a while. But we'll come back here. We love Bridgeport."

He said the roof was burned off the unit that he and his wife rented, exposing it to heat from the fire and water used to fight it.

Meanwhile, fire officials, insurance adjusters and restoration experts checked on damage to 19 units, half of which were gutted by the blaze. The fire destroyed the roof of the building that contained the units, one section of the 160-unit development.

The cause remained undetermined Tuesday.

City Building Official Peter Paajnen could not say whether the building's construction style was a factor in how the fire spread to so many units. "I saw the damage from a distance, but I didn't go inside," he said. "The Fire Department did not call me yet. I'll probably go in a week," he said.

Diane Glaser said she owns a first floor unit in which her daughter, Elizabeth, lived.

She said her daughter escaped the fire, but the unit had water damage.

"I've lived here at Coachlight for 37 years," said Ruth Levin, who lives in a section of the development uninvolved in the fire. "The fire made me feel terrible. I feel so very sad."

Levin wondered if more hydrants in the development might have limited the devastation.

Diane Auger, executive director of the Southeast Chapter of the American Red Cross, said her agency has provided hotel lodging for families and individuals from eight damaged units, while the rest of the 40 people forced out by the fire found places to stay on their own.

She said the Coachlight fire was the fourth her agency responded to in four days, including two others in Bridgeport and one in Fairfield.

Stressing the need for donations to replenish the agency's Disaster Relief Fund, Auger estimated the aid for the Coachlight residents is expected to total more than $13,000.

Anyone wanting to donate to help the fire victims may send checks marked "Disaster Relief Fund" to the American Red Cross Southeastern Fairfield County Chapter, 158 Booklawn Ave., Bridgeport, CT 06604.