An unattended candle caused a weekend fire that displaced 20 people at a south Lawrence apartment building.

Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical released no further information Monday about the cause of the fire in a second floor apartment at Heatherwood Valley Apartments, 2040 Heatherwood Drive. The 24-unit building is divided by a fire wall and the damage was on the eastern side.

A damage estimate has yet to be determined.

By Monday, most of the residents had either returned to apartments in the western half of the building or had found other places to live.

“Our first concern was the tenants,” said David Gage, president of Gage Management Inc., which operates the apartment complex. “We’ve done everything we can to take care of them.”

At least two of three families or individuals staying at a local hotel were thought to have found new places to live, said Jane Blocher, director of the Douglas County chapter of the American Red Cross.

The fire broke out shortly before 6 a.m. Saturday. A man whose name hasn’t been released and who lived in the apartment where the fire started was treated for injuries at Lawrence Memorial Hospital and has been released, Blocher said.

Jennifer Hawley said she and her boyfriend were in the apartment above where the fire started. She said her boyfriend was awakened by thudding sounds. “We got to the front door, opened it, and the halls were already black,” she said.

The couple went to the balcony and somebody put up an extension ladder.

“I panicked, but we all got down,” Hawley said.

Hawley said she wanted to thank everyone who helped her, from firefighters to Gage Management as well as other tenants who helped get them down from the balcony. She said she didn’t know who put up the ladder.

“I’m going to look for him,” she said. “I don’t know who he is or where he came from.”