The fire apparently started in of the home's detached garage, firefighters told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Rick Price.

Cornelio Delarosa, the son of the home's owner, said his dad described how he escaped.

SLIDESHOW: 3-Alarm Fire Rips Through Homes

"He was sleeping in the far room on the other side, where the garage is burned down, and he woke up from the smell, and he looked and the garage was burnt and he woke up all the people upstairs and next door to him, woke up, and he came out and it was all on fire," Delarosa said.

One pregnant woman was checked out for smoke inhalation.

More than three dozen firefighters from a half-dozen districts battled the flames. Firefighters were forced out of one house when the second floor collapsed.