One person has died and three others are in hospital with serious or life-threatening injuries following a west Edmonton house fire early Monday morning.
Video showed flames spewing out of the windows of the home on 90 Avenue and 166 Street shortly before 2 a.m.
WATCH BELOW: Viewer video captured a serious house fire in west Edmonton that sent four people to hospital.
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Alberta Health Services (AHS) said two men were taken to hospital in critical, life-threatening condition, while another man and a woman were in serious condition.
Early Monday afternoon, a spokesperson for Edmonton Fire Rescue Services said one of the people taken to hospital had since died.
“We are very saddened to report that there was one fatality today,” said Fire Chief Ken Block. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of the victim especially given this time of the year.”
Earlier in the day, district chief Gary Gamble said two of the men were in cardiac arrest, while the other man was struggling to breathe when they were taken out of the home.
“They were successful in finding them quickly. I think they heard one of the tenants inside was coughing, so he was easy to find. They did a primary search of the home and they found the other two that were inside.” Gamble said.
“I believe the caller that called the call in, she was like a support staff on scene and she’s getting checked out by AHS as well.”
Alberta Health said the group home is operated by McMan, a not-for-profit social service agency.
The agency confirmed it is a “shared residential house with three adults with disabilities, with support staff.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Alberta government said that “in addition to the investigations conducted by police and the fire department, we will be conducting a review of this agency and its policies. This will include a review of their staffing ratios, training and safety procedures.”
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Neighbour Ben Zubieto said he was still awake when he heard a loud scream coming from outside his home.
Zubieto said he saw the fire from this window so he ran outside and helped the woman who was screaming call 911.
“I saw part of the roof was burning, and when I came out, flames were already coming out of the windows too,” Zubieto said.
“She was saying her clients are still inside… ‘There are three people inside,’ and she kept yelling and screaming,” Zubieto said. “She was out of focus, still in shock and probably traumatized by the situation.”
AHS said one of the men who was first taken to hospital in life-threatening condition is in his 40s but the age of the other person admitted with life-threatening injuries is not known. Both the man and the woman in serious condition are in their 30s, according to AHS.
According to fire officials, crews were able to bring the blaze under control at 2:44 a.m. and declared the fire to be out at 3:34 a.m. A total of 21 firefighters helped to battle the blaze. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Fire crews remained on scene several hours after the fire.
–With files from Global News’ Phil Heidenreich