An early-morning fire in Troy rips through house where eight RPI students lived. No one was seriously hurt, but officials said the house is a total loss. Our Sabina Kuriakose has the details.

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TROY, N.Y. -- "That piece of the roof sticking up...I live right under there." And that is where RPI senior Daniel Bautista was sleeping, even as flames began shooting up from the bottom floor of the house at 2210 15th Street.

"I woke up around 2:20 this morning," said Bautista. "I heard glass breaking and voices outside. It was the firefighters actually breaking the glass on the first floor. I looked outside my window, which is just on the other side, and saw flames on the side of the house."

Firefighters were already battling the three-alarm blaze as Bautista woke his roommate, and the two managed to get out through a back fire escape.

"We didn't see the fire until we first left," said RPI senior Lane Waddell. "We looked around the side of the building and it was just gushing out. It was kind of intense."

Firefighters said there were eight RPI students inside when the fire started. Two were treated for smoke inhalation at Albany Medical Center and released. Firefighters said the fire had already burned through much of the house by the time they arrived.

"It was a tough fire to fight for us," said Troy Fire Chief Tom Garrett. "We had balloon construction which meant the fire traveled up the walls."

The students were at the scene of their daring escape hours later. All that's left are the clothes on their backs, their cell phones, and their wallets.

"Laptop, clothes, all the semester's work I've done so far," said Bautista. "I mean, it's just an empty feeling right now, just realizing you lost everything."

With classes just starting, they have little time to pick up the pieces. Each said they lost about $5,000 worth of belongings and had no renter's insurance, but they said they each escaped with something much more valuable.

"I mean that's all that really matters," said Waddell. "Things can be replaced. People can't."

RPI is housing the students for now. Even as we were speaking to them, a neighbor told Bautista and Waddell that she had a place for them to rent if they needed it. They said they would consider her offer.

Meanwhile, Chief Garrett later confirmed that some of the residents were having a party and were doing flaming shots and using sparklers inside the residence.

The house is a total loss.