The Associated Press

AP Photo/Matt Slocum A firefighter cordons off an area near the shelter, which caught fire, killing five men.

PARIS, Texas — A fire fueled by donated clothes ripped through a homeless shelter in northeastern Texas early Monday, killing five residents as some tried dousing the blaze with pans of water.

Paris Fire Chief Ronnie Grooms said the cause of the fire in the converted bakery remained unknown, but investigators said a roughly 25-foot-long table piled with donated clothes was a possible starting point. Arson is not suspected, he said.

The fire started just before 3 a.m. and sent more than 20 residents scrambling outside into a frigid 30-degree rain. Some escaped barefoot, and others had no time to grab clothes or coats.

"It went fast," said Roger Riemer, 49, who had lived at the shelter since September. "There was quite a few people trying to get it out, but it didn't work. It was just getting too hot. Smoke was billowing out of there so bad. There was nothing we could do."

The names of the victims, some of them left almost unidentifiable, were not immediately released. Fire officials said it was the deadliest fire in memory in Paris, a city of 26,000 people about 100 miles northeast of Dallas.

The shelter was run by the nonprofit Seed Sowers Christians in Action. The fire didn't spread to most of the aging brick warehouse-like building, emblazoned with the words "Jesus Saves," but a chunk of roof collapsed and left a gaping hole. Underneath, some Christmas garland lay atop the rubble.

Riemer and other shelter residents, huddling outside a makeshift shelter across the street, said they saw flames and felt intense heat coming off the table full of donated clothes. Paris Fire Marshal Dale Maberry said the table was being investigated as a possible "area of origin."

Grooms said he didn't immediately know whether the building, which did not have a sprinkler system, had been cited for code violations. With so much donated clothing and furniture in the building, Grooms said "a lot of that would be considered a fire hazard."

Carlton Moore, 41, said he was awakened by someone yelling "Fire!" and people pounding on doors trying to rouse residents and get them out.

"The smoke got intense real quick," he said. "All I could see was smoke."

Moore said he rushed to the kitchen to fill a pan with water to throw on the fire before the smoke grew so thick he couldn't see the pan in his hands. He then crawled out of the building.

All five who died were on the second floor. There were 28 men at the 42-bed shelter, where men stayed in 10-by-10 rooms, when the fire broke out, said Don Walker, the shelter's founder.

"It's just really a tragedy. It's just some homeless guys that really cared about me, and I cared about them," Walker said.

The shelter was among the few resources for the homeless in Paris, said Bradley Scott, a director with the Red Cross in the area. The homeless who escaped were put up in the temporary church shelter across the street; Scott said he was still looking for a longer-term solution.

"We'll find them a place," he said. "They won't be sent out on the street."

The Seed Sowers group recycles cardboard and newspapers at the site to pay for the shelter and soup kitchen, but Walker said the fire didn't spread to where recyclables were being sorted.

"We're just in shock over the men dying that way," said Lee Jordan, the wife of Rev. Billy Jordan, a retired preacher who serves on the group's board of directors.

Walker said that they'd had fire drills at the shelter, and Jordan said she'd never heard of any problems there.

According to the group's Web site, Seed Sowers Christians in Action relies on contributions to provide services to the homeless and low-income people. The shelter provides meals five days a week, according to the site. The group also has a smaller shelter for women and children at a different location.

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On its 2007 tax filing, the group stated that the bulk of its income that year, nearly $50,000, came from recycling. It also reported receiving about $41,000 in donations. The group said it recycles paper products, rags, plastic, aluminum and unused shoes.