Large flames lit up the sky in Winnipeg as fire tore through an apartment complex early Sunday morning, leaving dozens of people homeless.

The fire on Beaverhill Boulevard was first spotted around 6 a.m.

Bruce Henderson, a tenant in a third floor apartment in the two-building complex, told CTV Winnipeg that he was watching TV when he heard a large bang.

“Then I saw some flickering out the window,” Henderson recounted. “So I pulled the curtains open to see what it was and the whole deck was on fire already.”

Rav Sangha, a paramedic who was visiting Winnipeg from Dauphin, Man., said she woke up her hosts after seeing embers. Sangha then pulled the building’s fire alarm while her host called 9-1-1.

“The fire was spreading across the balcony and there’s barbeques and stuff there,” Sangha told CTV Winnipeg.

She says she rushed outside after banging on doors to warn others.

“I told everybody to kind of hurry up because we looked outside and the fire was spreading to the roof and coming to the front. By the time most people were making their way out, there were big chunks of embers falling by the front door.”

Sangha said she and a friend noticed the fire was spreading to the other building in the low-rise complex, each of which has 12 units. The two rushed to pull the other building’s fire alarm and banged on doors to warn its residents.

“The other building eventually caught on fire as well,” Sangha said. “I didn’t want anyone to be stuck inside the fire.”

The building was evacuated, with some residents watching from behind a police line as 19 fire crews battled the flames.

Ernie Yakiwchuk, who lives nearby, stepped in to help a couple and their six children who fled the building.

"I asked them if they had any place to go and they didn't so (I said) you're welcome to come to our place,” Yakiwchuk told CTV Winnipeg.

 

The couple, whose children range in age from one month to 17 years old, lost everything in the fire. They did not have tenant insurance.

 

Yakiwchuk and his wife made them breakfast and even went out to buy them diapers, sleepers and a blanket for their baby.

 

"They were very thankful that all of their children were safe and that they only had lost their belongings,” he said.

 

With the help of an emergency social services worker, the city and the Red Cross, the family is now staying in a hotel and receiving additional assistance.

 

“They have so many children so it's tough (to) start all over again for them," Yakiwchuk added.

The fire was declared under control after about 90 minutes, although firefighters remained on the scene throughout the day to extinguish hot spots.

Pictures posted to social media showed flames stretching from the bottom to the top of the three-storey building. Damage to the building is considered serious.

“It is very fortunate that nobody was hurt in this fire," Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service assistant chief Mark Reshaur said.

The cause of the fire has not been determined.

With files from CTV Winnipeg