CLINTON - Investigators were still trying on Monday to identify the cause of a fire early Sunday morning that destroyed a Clinton apartment house.

"The state fire marshal was on the scene Sunday, but we haven't officially identified what started the fire," Clinton Assistant Fire Chief Shaun Milton said Monday.

Also still to be determined is who actually owns the property. The original owner died recently and officials are looking into the status of the transfer of ownership, Milton said.

Milton said all of the contents of the property were destroyed.

"We haven't placed a property value amount because that is just too difficult to determine at this point," Milton said. "But everything was lost."

Lee Taylor, who occupied the top floor of the residence at 221 N. Mulberry, said he woke to find smoke filling his room about 2:25 a.m.

"It must have started in the downstairs apartment because I ran out of there and by the time I got downstairs, the smoke was extremely heavy," Taylor said. "I was lucky to get out."

Taylor said a woman occupies the downstairs portion of the building, but she was not home at the time of the fire. Her name and where she has stayed since the fire was not available Monday.

Taylor said he felt lucky to be alive.

"I've never seen anything quite like that," Taylor said. "There was a lot of smoke. I was asleep and woke up coughing. I didn't even get my shoes. I just knew I had to get out of there. I lost everything I had, but I'm just glad I woke up in time."

Taylor said he did not hear any smoke detectors and officials are trying to determine if there were active smoke detectors in the building at the time.

Firefighters from Clinton, Kenney, Maroa and Wapella were called to the scene.