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ATTLEBORO - With less than a week until Thanksgiving, six people were driven from their home Saturday morning as a fast-moving fire gutted one apartment and damaged the building.

Homeowner Manuel Barros of 28 Emory St. said a couch caught fire, and when he tried to put the flames out, the fire only grew.

Barros, his wife and two children, ages 4 and 2, safely escaped the flames into the 29-degree weather and were not injured.

Barros said he picked up one of the flaming cushions from the couch, opened the door of the house and threw it outside. When he opened the door, the rush of cold air fanned the flames and spread the fire, he said.

Two men who lived in a third-floor apartment were also homeless, following the fire, officials said. Deputy Fire Chief Glenn Livesey said a 9-1-1 call at about 11 a.m. reporting the fire was received and a city rescue returning from the hospital spotted the flames coming out of the three-story wood-framed house.

Using a deck gun on one of the three engine companies that responded to the fire, crews were able to protect a nearby home, and push the flames back inside the house.

Firefighters then entered the house and extinguished the blaze from the inside, the deputy chief said.

Because of the age of the house and that its of balloon-style construction, the initial fear was the flame would spread through the walls and burn into the second and third floors of the house, which was clad in vinyl siding.

The firefighters, according to Livesey made a fast stop of the flames, containing them to the first floor.

Surveying the outside of the house, Livesey told reporters that he was initially concerned that high winds would fan the flames, igniting a brown-colored house next door, but firefighters prevented that from happening, he said.

The deputy chief said the foam inside a couch cushion is extremely flammable, and when it burns, it produces a very hot flame. He said the cushions are almost as flammable as gasoline.

Along with Barros and his family, the deputy chief said two adult males living in the third floor of the house will be unable to return to their apartment.

The Red Cross was called to help provide shelter and other assistance to the Barros family, and to assist the two men living on the third floor, of the three story building. The second floor was unoccupied at the time of the blaze, officials said.

Deputy Chief Livesey said the fire isn't suspicious, and he estimated damage at $100,000. The house was condemned by a city building inspector, the deputy chief said.

No injuries were reported in fighting the fire.