An early morning fire has left a south Edmonton street littered with charred ruins and dozens of residents without a place to live.

Firefighters work on the scene of what is being called Edmonton's largest residential fire.
(Jimmy Jeong/Canadian Press)

The blaze began shortly after 5 a.m. in a four-storey condominium under construction but quickly spread to nine two-family homes along 119th Street NW, north of Ellerslie Road, as strong winds fanned the flames.

All were destroyed and 38 other houses were damaged, a fire department official told the Canadian Press.

Some veteran firefighters described the fire as the largest they'd seen in the city.

"It looks like a war zone. I don't know how to describe it any better than that. It was just total devastation for a lot of homes and a lot of people's lives," said Edmonton fire Chief Randy Wolsey.

When firefighters arrived on the scene, flames were shooting more than 30 metres, or 10 storeys, into the air, Capt. Kim Guterson told Canadian Press.

Nearby resident Kelly Cooper woke up to what she thought was a massive windstorm.

"I heard glass breaking and I thought there was a tornado, to be honest with you."

Firefighters say flames were shooting 10 storeys into the air when they arrived.
(CBC)

When she pulled back her curtains, she saw a firestorm in her backyard.

No one was injured, but some residents escaped with nothing but the clothes they were wearing.

"I had no chance to take anything out of my house. Everything is gone," said Raphael Perez, who was left with the pyjama bottoms he was wearing as he fled.

The three-alarm blaze was under control by mid-morning, but firefighters continued to douse hot spots for much of the day.

Firefighters blame lax building code

Firefighters said it was only a matter of time before a fire of this magnitude broke out in the area, blaming poor construction materials and lax building codes.

Damage could have been minimized, they said, if building codes required a greater distance between houses and required certain types of siding to be used.

"We're grateful that no one was injured.… However, we have devastated a community emotionally," said fire department spokeswoman Nikki Booth. "A fire of this size and this magnitude definitely creates tremendous trauma to the community and we'd like to see that those code changes come into place."

Many of the homes had been built in recent years.

The cause of the blaze is still unknown and there's no indication whether it is suspicious, a fire department spokeswoman said.

With files from the Canadian Press