A four-year-old girl has died after a cooking fire in a Montreal North apartment that had no working smoke detector.

The girl was from a family of six who were living in a basement apartment on Matte Street near the Pascal Street intersection.

Firefighters responded to a call at about 6:30 a.m. on Friday and managed to get three of the children, their mother and their father out of the apartment.

Firefighters responded to a fatal early-morning fire on Friday in Montreal North. (CBC)

The four-year-old girl was found under her bed unconscious, and by the time paramedics arrived on the scene, she had gone into cardiac arrest.

After being taken to hospital in critical condition, the girl was declared dead.

Spokesman for Urgences-Santé, David Sasson, said it's possible she suffered from smoke inhalation.

A woman in the apartment next door fled with her two-year-old daughter.

“When I heard broken glass, I looked up and saw smoke coming from my light fixtures,” she said.

Fire chief Denis Roy said parents should teach their young children what to do in the event of a fire.

“That they evacuate properly and maybe get a meeting point at a neighbour’s place,” he said.

“This is obviously something that is very good and that we recommend the parents practice with their child.”