At a time that should be filled with joy, many families this Thanksgiving were left homeless in Upper Manhattan. A fire burned through a building Wednesday night, forcing dozens of residents from their apartments.

"I saw this guy he knocked all the doors. He said 'leave, you’ve got a fire. The fire is in the roof. Leave please,' so everybody leaves," said resident Sonya Ceballos Thursday. She said the man was a UPS driver who had seen the flames on the roof and went into the building to alert residents.

FDNY officials said they were called to the apartment building at 78 Post Avenue around 11 p.m Wednesday night. The fire spread quickly through the roof and grew to five alarms.

The entire building was evacuated.

On Thursday, residents returned and waited outside the building in the hopes of being allowed into their apartments to gather personal belongings.

Assemblywoman Carmen De la Rosa arrived to convey information between officials and residents.

“Now there is uncertainty of the future of where they will live the loss of material, and also the mental strain of not knowing what happens next,” said De la Rosa. She told residents the top three floors of the six story building were deemed structurally unsafe and those residents would not be able to go in Thursday night.

The Red Cross spoke with 29 families and 15 of those families needed emergency housing.