EDMONTON -- A family escaped an early morning fire in west Edmonton on Thursday.
Three units at Ormsby Place Condominiums at 185 Street and 66 Avenue were damaged in the blaze, officials on scene said: two by fire, one by smoke.
While one heavily damaged unit was vacant, the second was the home of two children, their uncle and their grandparents.
"I just wake up to the neighbour spamming the doorbell as many times as they could to wake everybody up," Jacob Dockrill told CTV News Edmonton.
"I turn the corner, just about to a wall of flames. And all I can really think to do is scream fire out to my family and try and get everybody out in time. Thank God we did," he said of his parents and nieces.
A fire on a deck and fence was reported shortly after 3:30 a.m. When firefighters arrived on scene, they found flames in the residential building.
Dockrill was able to save their dog and one of two hamsters.
"I'm freaking out, so I can't even imagine what's going through those little girls' minds," Dockrill said of his nieces.
​"We just got out in time. If it wasn't for the neighbour, we probably would've been in a lot worse situation than we were."
The renters did not have insurance. Dockrill said he wasn't sure what they would do.
According to Edmonton Fire Rescue Services, the fire was brought under control by 4:30 a.m. and fully extinguished by 6:11 a.m.
The entire building was evacuated, but no injuries were reported.
Investigators were due to return to the scene later Thursday.
