OCEANSIDE, Calif. -- A two-alarm fire tore through a North County apartment building early Wednesday, displacing 32 people and causing an estimated $180,000 worth of property damage.

Food left unattended on a stove sparked the blaze in a downstairs unit at the Villa Del Rey complex in the 400 block of Grant Street in Oceanside just after midnight, Battalion Chief Pete Lawrence said.

Two residents tried in vain to douse the flames with water before rounding up their four children and fleeing, according to Lawrence.

It took a contingent of about four dozen firefighters roughly 20 minutes to subdue the flames, which gutted two apartments and damaged four others, Lawrence said.

Medics treated five residents and three police officers at the scene for minor cuts and smoke inhalation.

The American Red Cross was called in to assist the 14 adults and 18 children displaced from the six damaged residences, he said.

The monetary losses were set at $150,000 to the structure and $30,000 to contents.