Firefighters have rescued four people from a smoke-filled four-storey building on Northbourne Avenue after a fire started inside a ground-floor unit.
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An Emergency Services Agency spokesman said paramedics were treating the four people who were inside the Lyneham Flats at the time for minor smoke inhalation.
ACT Fire and Rescue Commander Russell Cameron said firefighters arrived to find a woman waving from the window of a top floor apartment.
He said the building was "smoke-logged" and firefighters fitted breathing masks to four residents and led them down the inside stairwell.
The residents were treated at the scene for smoke inhalation. No-one was taken to hospital.
Commander Cameron said the fire was isolated to the bottom floor unit and was smouldering by the time firefighters arrived. He said it was too early to determine the cause of the fire.
All seven units were damaged by the smoke and residents were told it was unlikely they would be able to stay there tonight.
Resident Tracie Campbell went to open the door of the apartment after she smelled smoke.
"I opened the door but the smoke was too thick. Smoke was everywhere within 30 seconds," she said.
"It was just black, I couldn't see anything."
Ms Campbell then ran upstairs and phoned triple-0.
"Everyone's mostly OK. Luckily it wasn't at night so there was only a few people home."
She said a man who lived there wasn't inside at the time and she believed someone had left the apartment not long before.
"We had a similar incident a few months ago where everyone was evacuated.
"They said I wasn't able to go back in to sleep there tonight, but I just want to get my cats out."
Wayne Borden's fire alarm went off before he smelled any smoke from his second floor apartment in the building.
"I hit it with a broom to stop it and it came loose," Mr Borden said.
"Then I looked out into the stairwell and it was pitch black with smoke so I held onto the handrail and I went down. It was so dark I could barely see."
Mr Borden said he was "a bit scared and a bit annoyed".
"I might not have much of a schedule but it's happened once before and they kicked my door down because they thought I was still in there."
The matter has been handed to ACT Policing to investigate.
Firefighters were called to the units just before 2pm and
The spokesman said crews were ventilating the units before investigating the cause of the fire.
ACT Fire & Rescue had multiple fire pumpers and support vehicles on scene alongside two ambulances.
An ACT Policing spokesman said one lane of southbound traffic on Northbourne Avenue was blocked at the Morphett intersection as a result of the fire.
