GRESHAM, Ore. -- A woman and her adult special-needs son lost everything after a fire gutted their Gresham apartment early Wednesday.

It happened on Linden Road near Burnside just before 12:30 a.m.

The fire likely began on the outside of the downstairs unit and then spread quickly to the upstairs apartment, firefighters said.

The top unit is completely gutted, firefighters said. The single male occupant in the downstairs unit was asleep when the fire broke out. Neighbors woke him up to tell him the outside of his apartment was on fire.

His apartment was damaged on the outside only, said firefighters.

“A woman and her adult special needs son live upstairs,” said Troy Gragg, property manager of the Linden Apartment complex. “The Red Cross responded to help them find a place to stay overnight, but they chose to stay with family,” he said.

There are a total of 58 units in the Linden Place apartments. The fire damaged two.

“One of our tenants went around waking people up. As a precaution, everyone was evacuated from six units,” said Gragg.

Gragg estimated damage costs at about $75,000.

No one was hurt.

The insurance investigator was scheduled to arrive later in the morning to access the damage, said Gragg.