By RUSS OLIVO

WOONSOCKET — Paul Vadeboncoeur had just gotten out of bed Sunday morning and he was still milling around his apartment in pajamas when he heard the shrill wail of smoke detectors.

Vadeboncoeur, 43, looked around his second-floor apartment at 381 Pond St., but he saw nothing unusual. Then, poking around further, he peered into the corridor that led to the far end of his long, narrow apartment. And there it was.
“Smoke,” said Vadeboncoeur. “It was pouring out of the bathroom.”
Panicked, Vadeboncoeur alerted his girlfriend, Karen Enright, 40, and her brother, Mark Enright, 43, herding them out of the apartment. The last thing he did before exiting the home for the last time was grab the keys to his van. Then he moved the vehicle, thinking fire trucks would need the space where he was parked to get closer to the boxy, blue three-story that was suddenly engulfed in billowing smoke and flames.
As it turned out, the van — and their lives — were the chief belongings the Vadenboncoeur clan was able to escape with. In what firefighters have described as an unusually fast-moving, destructive fire, the roof of the dwelling collapsed about 20 minutes after Vadeboncoeur, the Enrights, and several other residents of the tenement fled for safety, destroying three other vehicles that had been parked beside Vadeboncoeur’s van.
Except for a bicycle in the hallway belonging to Vadeboncoeur’s son, who was sleeping at a cousin’s house the morning of the fire, his family lost most everything. Even their pet cat, Junior, died in the fire. With money given to them by the Red Cross, they went to Wal-Mart later that morning to buy clothing, since they had none of their own left, and telephones, so they would have a way to keep in touch.
“We were in our pajamas,” said Enright. “When I hear stories about how that fire could have been creeping around in the eaves while we were sleeping, I get goosebumps thinking about it. We could have been killed.”
Now living at the Holiday Inn, paying with the donations from the Red Cross, The Vadeboncoeur clan says their money is running out, and, with all of their possessions incinerated, they are wondering what they will do next.
Friends have made generous donations of clothing to the family, but Enright says that, along with personal memorabilia and other belongings, she lost six rooms of furniture in the fire. She’s in touch with the Woonsocket Housing Authority, Family Resources Inc. and other city officials in attempts to secure another apartment, but even if something comes through soon, she doesn’t have the financial means to set up another household with basics like toiletries and food.
 “We need everything,” said Enright, who, with an $8-an-hour factory post is the only member of her household with a job. “We walked out with the clothing on our backs.”
 Basically, Enright is pleading for help so she can get back on her feet. She has set up a post office box, PO Box 1784, Woonsocket, RI, 02895, for people to send donations. A friend, Kim Howland, has offered to serve as a clearing house for non-monetary giving, saying anyone who wants to help can notify her at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , to make arrangements for pickups of furniture or other items. Also, Howland can be reached at 766-5620.
 Meanwhile, fire officials say the investigation into the cause of the inferno remains open. Deputy State Fire Marshal David Curran, the lead investigator, said Wednesday that he did not know how long it would be until the joint investigation by the state fire marshal’s office, the Woonsocket Fire Department and the Woonsocket Police Department would be concluded.
 “It’s still presently under investigation,” Curran said, declining further comment.