Officials say a building fire in Freeport has left 17 people without a home weeks before Christmas.

The fire broke out around 1 a.m. on Broadway.

Officials say the fire started in one of the bedrooms in an apartment above a row of stores.

The chief fire marshal for Nassau County tells News 12 the fire is believed to have started from a space heater plugged into an extension cord. The extension cord was plugged into the wall, and the extension cord failed.

Officials are warning residents not to use space heaters with extension cords or power strips because they are often not built to withstand a large amount of electrical draw.

Officials say there were no smoke detectors in the apartment at the time of the fire.