Woman dies after blaze in Esquimalt, B.C., traps woman on apartment balcony

ESQUIMALT, B.C. – The BC Coroners Service confirms a woman in her 60s has died in an apartment fire in Esquimalt, B.C.

Flames broke out in the four storey building Sunday afternoon.

One upper suite was engulfed and the unnamed woman was trapped on a fourth floor balcony.

Witnesses report she was reluctant to jump, although others had grabbed a blanket and were urging her to leap because there was no other escape route.

Firefighters had to use ladders to rescue at least one other resident trapped on a balcony by heavy smoke from the intense blaze.

A cause of the fire has not yet been determined. (The Canadian Press, CTV)