MIAMI – One person is dead and seven other residents of a Coral Springs, Fla., retirement home were taken to a local hospital after an apartment caught fire and hazy smoke filled Building B at the St. Andrew’s Towers Retirement Homes. The name of the elderly resident who died has not been released, nor have fire marshals determined the cause of the blaze.

The fire started in the fourth-floor apartment of the man who died around 1:15 a.m. Saturday. Although the fire was contained to the apartment of the one resident, heavy smoke blanketed each of the seven floors of the 432-unit building.

Apparently a resident of the fourth floor panicked after hearing the alarm and going into the hallway. He saw the thick smoke and propped the hallway doors open with his walker, Coral Springs fire department Lt. Richard Antonini said.

Firefighters from four departments raced to the retirement home after the alarm was activated. Antonini said the building is older and does not have sprinklers.

“We knew we would need a lot of assistance because of the time of night and the amount of people that needed to be evacuated,” Antonini said. While one group of firefighters attacked the contained blaze, the others began to evacuate more than 100 residents – many who were unable to walk without the use of walkers, canes or wheelchairs, Antonini said.

“They were upset at being removed from their homes at that time of the morning and in those conditions,” Antonini said. “And it was difficult getting them down the stairs and out of the building.”

The elevators were shut down when the alarm sounded.

Just hours after the evacuation, the Broward County Chapter of the American Red Cross was at the retirement home to assist the evacuated residents.

“It makes it especially important that we’re here for this. We had to make sure they had their meds, wheelchairs and scooters,” said Red Cross spokesperson Tom McFadden.

While some of the residents were being let back into parts of the apartment by mid-afternoon, the Red Cross was still unsure whether the remaining 65 residents would be spending Saturday night in hotels or a shelter.

“We’ll be here today, tonight – we’ll be here,” McFadden said, reassuringly.

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(Miami Herald reporter Jose Pagliery contributed to this report.)

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AP-NY-02-02-08 1920EST