Residents of a low-rent housing complex were allowed to return to their homes Sunday afternoon after a fire forced them to evacuate their apartments on Friday.

The fire, which swept through the third floor of the building at 3115 Roy Key Ave., killed one man and left 56 residents temporarily homeless.

“We’re really glad they were able to return so quickly,” said Brad Snodgrass, CEO of NBA Keystone Apartments. “It’s been a homecoming.”

Ralph “Jack” Craven Jr., 59, perished in the blaze Friday night. The fire started in Craven’s apartment, No. 335.

Fifty-six residents, who were mostly elderly or disabled, were forced to flee their apartments into the frigid night.

Firefighters received a call from a resident of the facility at 7:24 p.m. and rushed to NBA Keystone Apartments, a three-story, 55-unit independent living facility for older adults managed by the National Benevolent Association of the Christian Church of St. Louis.

The cause of the fire is unknown and is under investigation at this time. The building had no sprinkler system, but was not in violation of city codes, said Clare Bills, public relations officer for the City of Ames.

“We had a report of smoke in the building,” said Paul Sandoval, deputy fire chief for the City of Ames, on Friday night.

Firefighters who arrived on the scene used ladders to rescue five residents who were partially hanging out of windows on the third floor of the building.

“There were people literally trying to climb out the windows,” Bills said.

Firefighters discovered Craven’s body lying in the hallway of the third floor, Bills said.

Two other residents and one apartment worker were taken to the Mary Greeley Medical Center for treatment. One was released and two were kept for observation, Bills said.

On Sunday afternoon, several floral blankets, soot-covered chairs, a box of chocolates and numerous country-western vinyl albums remained scattered among ashes on the north lawn of the complex. A man’s cowboy boot dangled from a piece of unrecognizable furniture near a charred mattress.

The fire was fully involved when firefighters arrived on the scene, Sandoval said Friday.

“We had smoke actually down to the floor — heavy smoke, heavy heat,” he said. “The smoke damage was extensive.”

Snodgrass said eight residents who lived in the west wing of the third floor were not able to return to their apartments Sunday afternoon due to soot that needs to be cleaned from the units. He said most of the damage was contained to the victim’s apartment.

Leslie Hansohn, 76, has lived in Keystone Apartments with his wife for three years. Hansohn said at the scene Friday most of the residents on the first floor of the building remained calm throughout the fire.

“I was shaving, and I heard the fire alarm go off,” he said. “[The residents] were all calm, as far as I know.”

Hansohn said he and his wife left the building and kept warm in their car, which was parked in a nearby lot.

“We just left on our own,” he said.

The Lincoln Way Chapter of the American Red Cross was on the scene of the fire to provide assistance to the residents and staff of the apartment complex.

Most residents were transported Friday by CyRide buses to the nearby North Grand Church of Christ, 919 30th St., after the church’s pastor, Jim Gilmore, offered the church and its gymnasium to accommodate the residents, said Bob Anderson, vice chairman of the Board of Directors of the Lincoln Way Chapter of the American Red Cross.

After the tragedy, family and friends of many of the residents came to the church to pick up their loved ones, he said.

About 30 residents, some wrapped in afghans and quilts, chatted quietly over coffee and cookies at the church, while the firefighters continuously returned to the apartment complex to retrieve their medications.

“Most of the residents did go with family or friends,” said Colleen Daly, emergency services specialist with the Lincoln Way Chapter of the American Red Cross.

Daly said seven residents who did not have family to stay with spent the night at local motels.

Bills said the investigation may take a while due to the extensive fire damage to the victim’s apartment.

“It was all so badly burned,” she said. “It takes longer to do the investigation.”

Donations to assist the victims of the tragedy can be directed to the Lincoln Way Chapter of the American Red Cross, 436 Fifth St., or by calling (515) 232-5104.