One person dead after fire in Hull apartment that lacked working smoke alarms

Gatineau firefighters are reminding residents about the importance of smoke detectors after a fatal fire in the Hull sector early Sunday morning.

Firefighters were called to a five-unit apartment building on rue Frontenac at around 4:30 a.m.

While the fire was quickly brought under control, an unconscious woman was found inside a unit and emergency responders tried to resuscitate her.

According to a media release, the apartment did not have working smoke alarms or carbon monoxide detectors.

A neighbour, one of the seven people who have been displaced, tells CTV News a young woman died in the fire. The Gatineau police service is investigating but is not providing any additional information.

Michele Brunet lives in the building with her family. She woke up to a banging noise and the smell of smoke.

"I smell the fire so I wake up my child and the fireman is there," Brunet said Sunday afternoon. "It's extremely sad ... and my son, he has lost everything in the bedroom."

Brunet says the fire started in another unit of the building.

"Very sad … because my neighbour is dead."

Brunet and her son will stay at a hotel for three days, and will receive assistance from the Red Cross.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

"The most upsetting thing is someone died in it," Camille Dion said, who lives near the scene of the fire.