NEWS -- One person is dead after a fire in an apartment building in downtown Vancouver Thursday.

Vancouver Fire and Rescue said they responded to a call about the fire around 7:05 p.m. When emergency crews arrived at the building at 133 West Pender Street, they went to the eighth floor and found heavy smoke conditions in the hallway with one suite fully engulfed.

Some residents had used the building’s hose to partly extinguish the fire, according to assistant fire chief Trevor Connelly.

A woman in her early to mid-50s died leaving the building, according to Connelly.

The building, the Pendera, is a 114-suite social housing building operated by Vancouver Native Housing Society.