One person was found dead after a fire at a Westwood apartment building, said Edmonton Fire Rescue Services (EFRS).
A fire was reported to Edmonton Fire Rescue Services at 9:32 p.m. Thursday in a three-storey walkup at 119th Avenue and 101st Street, a few blocks away from the main NAIT campus in the Alberta Avenue area.
EFRS said the fire started in one of the third-floor apartments. The person was found dead at the site.
Fire crews limited the damage to one apartment but residents of the two suites below were displaced for the night, the City of Edmonton said.
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Rod Anderson was sitting on his balcony nearby on Thursday night when he smelled what he described as burning plastic.
“I stood up, I looked around. Windows were being broke… pops, bangs.
“It looked like bright light coming from the place and, within 15 minutes, that place went up in flames, everyone’s rushing out.
“There were a bunch of people, they were all panicking,” Anderson said.
“It was engulfed. That place was done,” he added. “It was bad. The flames were… it was bad, bad, bad.”
Anderson was sad to hear someone died.
“It’s never a good day when that happens. My condolences to the family.”
Neighbour Christina Toovey was also upset to hear about the fatality.
“It’s scary,” she said. “All I heard was sirens. “I went out of my place and I saw that place open in flames, huge flames.
“I heard, unfortunately, there was a fatality,” Toovey said, adding that even though she doesn’t know the person who died, “It hurts.”
No cause has been determined yet.
The fire was considered to be out around 12:48 a.m. Friday.
The city told Global News that it determined there is $100,000 worth of damage to the property.
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