Several people taken to hospital following suspicious apartment fire

EDMONTON - Residents of a southside apartment complex went through a frightening ordeal early Sunday morning after a fire, that investigators are now calling suspicious, broke out in their building at 85th Avenue and 99th Street.

Chelsie Blades, who lives in the suite next to where the blaze broke out, says she was awakened in the middle of the night to the sound of screams.

"My bedroom window was open and all I could hear was people screaming outside 'Get out, get out!'" When she looked outside her window, Blades says she saw "huge billowing flames coming out of the apartment."

"I grabbed my keys and I went to go out my front door to enter the hallway and there was too much smoke and so I had to jump off my balcony."

Jared Kirchner also saw the flames shooting out of the second floor.

"It was crazy, I've never seen anything like it in my life," he says. "And then we all ran up and started banging on windows and were like 'Get out, get out!"

"My adrenaline was going so fast," adds Robert Booth. "I just wanted to make sure everyone was out of there because I know a lot of people that lived in that building."

When fire crews arrived shortly after 3 a.m., they found many of the residents trapped on their balconies.

"(The firefighters') primary concern was getting occupants out of the suites, a lot of them were on the balconies and they were trapped by smoke and had to be rescued by ladders," explains District 3 Chief Dwayne Smith.

The crews were able to get everyone out. But since the building is currently considered uninhabitable, the Red Cross has been called in to help find the residents other accommodations.

Ten fire trucks ended up getting called in, and it took 40 firefighters about 45 minutes to get the blaze under control.

"We did have six people that were injured, one female that was taken to the University Hospital with approximately 25 percent burns to her body," says District Chief Smith. "Three other males were taken to the Misericordia Hospital with smoke inhalation. And two others were looked at but refused transport. They suffered minor smoke inhalation."

Fire Captain/Investigator John Yaschuk says the fire broke out in the woman's bedroom, and that investigators have a good idea of how it happened after speaking to her in hospital.

While the woman lives in the residence by herself, Yaschuk tells Global News there was a man over at the suite.

"We do know that there was an altercation prior to this incident," he says, adding that the fire spread extremely fast, and that the suite was "fully involved" by the time crews arrived.

Police are still looking for the man, who Yaschuk says could be facing serious charges.

The investigation is ongoing.

With files from Slav Kornik, Global News