Winnipeg firefighters responded to a blaze that broke out at a Westwood Estates apartment building around 6:30 Sunday evening.

Witnesses said smoke was billowing from the balcony of a ninth floor apartment.

“From my vantage point the whole room was fallen, it was spreading to three floors,” said Steven McKeigan, who lives in the building.

A family was visiting their elderly mother when the fire broke out. They believe the fire began on balcony of an elderly woman's apartment.

“She says she was watching tv, watching the news, and she sees a smoke and fire, and she comes out and it’s on her balcony. She says, I don’t even know how it started,” said Caryle Stefura.

Stefura, her daughter, and her brother only met the woman the day the fire happened. But they all say they felt terrible for the woman.

“She’s a really nice old lady, really sweet woman. Totally, totally devastated by what happened,” said Rob Stefura.

Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service Platoon Chief, Ian Campbell, said the call came in for a balcony fire. He believes the blaze broke out at a ninth floor unit.

“First in crews did arrive, noticed heavy flame on the ninth floor. There was extension of fire on the eighth and the tenth floor as well,” said Campbell.

Campbell said the fire caused extensive damage to units on those three floors at 429 Westwood Drive.

He said there would also be significant smoke and water damage to apartments on other floors.

Campbell said there were many elderly residents in the building, including some with mobility issues who had trouble evacuating.

He said in the case of a fire, any residents with mobility issues should call 911 and firefighters will assist them.

Campbell also said it's important to reduce the risk of balcony fires by limiting the amount of items stored outside, especially flammable ones like BBQ covers and certain lawn furniture.

“Once those flames start rising and the heat starts climbing, those items have a tendency to ignite. The wind will fan the flames and then it’ll start to climb,” said Campbell.

It's not yet clear what caused the fire.

There’s no cost estimate of how much damage was done by the fire.

 

With files from CTV's Meghan Roberts