A woman is dead and a police officer is injured after a fire broke out at an Etobicoke apartment for seniors on Monday morning.

Fire crews responded to the building, at 100 Cavell Avenue, east of Royal York Road and south of Mimico GO station, just before 11:30 a.m. for reports of flames near the top of the seven-storey building.

Police said they had reports that a female occupant of the building was trapped due to flames. She was later pulled from the unit after firefighters or police breached the door to get her.

Fire Chief Matthew Pegg later offered his condolences on the woman’s death.

"I extend sincere condolences to family, friends and all those impacted by this morning’s fatal fire on Cavell Avenue. Our teams are working alongside Toronto Police and the Ontario Fire Marshal to determine the origin, cause and circumstances of this tragic fire."

Police said an officer injured themselves trying to get to her. They also said the woman who was rescued succumbed to her injuries at the scene.

Fire crews said earlier that the blaze was emanating from one unit of the building, which is a Toronto Community Housing property dedicated to seniors.

Speaking with CP24 at the scene, OFM Supervisor Manny Garcia said the Ontario Fire Marshal will be investigating reports that the woman had trouble getting out of the building.

“I understand that the individual may not have been able to find their way out. That's obviously going to be a focus of our investigation, why that was the case, if that is in fact the case,” Garcia said. “And we're also gonna be taking a look at the fire safety devices, smoke alarms, smoke detection devices to see if they played a role as we always do.”

All residents of the building were carefully evacuated.

The injured officer suffered from smoke inhalation and is expected to recover.

Garcia said fire investigators will likely remain at the scene into the evening.