Police investigating Cairns North unit fire, woman taken to hospital

A woman in her 80s has been taken to hospital and police are investigating after a Cairns North unit fire early on Sunday morning.

Police and fire investigators on scene of a unit fire in Gelling Street, Cairns North on Sunday July 20. T

A woman in her 80s has been taken to hospital and police are investigating after a Cairns North unit fire early on Sunday morning.

The fire was reported just after 5am on Sunday morning, said a spokesman for Queensland Fire Service.

Three fire crews attended the scene and officers contained the fire in less than half an hour, he said.

The fire gutted a ground-floor room in a street-facing, two-story-apartment building at the end of Gelling Street in Cairns North.

The blaze gutted a ground-floor room in the Gelling Street unit complex.

The street, which is near the railway line, has a number of apartment buildings, and the apartment complex where the fire broke out has at least 10 units.

The spokesman said no people were rescued from the building by fire officer, and a number of residents were already outside when fire crews arrived.

“We have handed the investigation over to police,” said the spokesman.

Fire and police investigators were on-scene on Sunday morning, questioning neighbours, taking scene photos, and assessing the damage.

A cause has yet to be established for the fire, a police spokeswoman said.

The cause of the early-morning Gelling Street blaze is not yet known.

A spokeswoman for the Queensland Ambulance Service said two people were assessed at the scene on Sunday morning and one woman, aged in her 80s, was taken to Cairns Hospital with minor burns.

A number of nearby residents said they had not seen the fire, nor heard any details, but were providing their home security cameras footage to police to assist with inquiries.

Originally published as Police investigating Cairns North unit fire, woman taken to hospital