A senior who spotted flames at his Langley housing complex overnight rushed to wake up residents and get them out of the burning building.

Peter Dowler called the fire department after seeing sparks and smoke, and hearing someone yelling.

"They told me to pull the alarm and get everyone out of the building so I did," he said.

He also started knocking on doors, waking up fellow residents and telling them to get outside.

"People living on either side of me are both deaf, and gladly I got them both awake and got them downstairs," Dowler said.

Unfortunately, one resident living on the third storey of the Lions Senior Citizens Housing Complex on 203rd Street did not survive the three-alarm blaze.

About 30 firefighters were called to the area around 12:30 a.m. Wednesday to find one unit in the Birch building completely engulfed. They evacuated the building, along with three others nearby.

The fire was contained to the one unit, however there is smoke and water damage on the lower levels.

Acting Asst. Chief Scott Kennedy of the Langley City Fire Service said the risk of the fire was "fairly substantial" because of the age of the people who live there.

"We have people with mobility issues. We have a lot of people in one area," he told CTV Morning Live.

"It's an older structure. It's a sprinklered building, so that did help us, but it was a fairly well involved fire in the suite."

The victim has not been identified, but crews say he was the occupant of the suite where the fire broke out.

The resident's neighbour, Art Gauthier, said he could see the smoke pouring out of the suite as left the building.

"As I was going by I heard all that crashing and banging and things breaking and popping," he said.

Others who live in the building say the victim was a long-time resident in his 60s. A woman who lives in the building said she'd seen a woman crying, who identified herself as the victim's fiancée.

For now, 67 people are out of their homes. Fire crews are retrieving items like medication from their suites.

The housing complex was the scene of another fatal fire in 2013, although it was in a different building.

In that blaze, an 80-year-old man was killed and three others were left in critical condition after a fire gutted several suits in the Elm building.

With reports from CTV Morning Live's Nafeesa Karim and CTV Vancouver's David Molko