Residents have been evacuated from a unit complex at Cooks Hill after a fire broke out in one of the apartments .
Fire crews from Newcastle, Merewether and the Hazmat unit were called to the block of housing commission units in Darby Street next to Darby's Pies at 4.15 this morning to find the windows blown out and flames issuing from a ground floor unit.
No-one was inside the unit at the time and all the residents of the complex have been evacuated, including an elderly woman on a top floor balcony who was helped out with the aid of a breathing apparatus extension.
Crews managed to contain the fire to the one unit - the rest of the units have been smoke logged.
The cause of the fire is not known at this stage.
