1 dead after fire near NAIT

A person was found dead after a fire at a central Edmonton walk-up on Thursday.

The blaze at 119 Avenue and 101 Street was reported around 9:30 p.m.

The entire three-storey building was evacuated.

"No idea what happened. All I heard was the fire alarm go off… and I got out," a resident named Jim told CTV News Edmonton.

"I was in my room watching TV, reading a book, and I heard my neighbour outside my window that lives on the third floor. I was like, 'Why is Muhammed calling 911?'" recalled another resident, Maria Branco.

"Next thing you know, I hear the fire alarm."

Before Branco and her son left, she tried to get to an elderly neighbour's unit on the top floor but the smoke was too thick.

When they got outside, both residents saw flames "shooting" out of a unit on the third floor, as Jim put it.

Branco said, "It was so bad. It was horrendous flames. You could actually feel the heat."

Edmonton Fire Rescue Services did not provide any other details about the victim or where they were found, but Branco said the victim lived in the suite where the fire started.

Building management confirmed to CTV News the woman who lived in the suite was on oxygen.

The fire was declared under control around 10 p.m. and then out at 12:45 a.m.

Residents of two suites were displaced for the rest of the night.

The cause of the fire has not been released and damage to the building and contents is estimated to be $100,000.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Galen McDougall and David Ewasuk