Neighbours say they are scared after a fourth fire in a week broke out early Thursday morning in an apartment building in the Hull sector of Gatineau.

The building on rue Frontenac near rue Eddy caught fire just after midnight. It took firefighters more than four hours to get the blaze under control.

Nobody was injured, said Gatineau police, who have opened a criminal investigation.

It caused an estimated $100,000 damage.

This fire happened about a kilometre and a half from a police command post on boulevard Sacré-Coeur, set up Wednesday and Thursday after three suspicious fires in three nights last weekend.

Those three fires may be connected, police said at the time.

This home on rue Frontenac near rue Eddy caught fire just after midnight Thursday, Oct. 25, 2018. (CBC)

Looking for tips

Police have placed flyers in mailboxes of homes in the area around where the fires took place hoping that will elicit tips from the public.

Amanda Sheperd lives on rue Frontenac just a few houses down from where the blaze happened.

She wasn't home at the time but says there was loud fighting in that building this past summer.

"It's pretty much concerning, especially since I live close by," she said.

Sheperd says she lived through the Lac Megantic train crash and said the fire and response from emergency crews brought back "bad memories."

Michel Dolbeck owns a building on Eddy at the corner of Frontenac, home to a pet-grooming business and multiple apartments, one of five buildings he owns in the neighbourhood.

"I'm wondering who is next," Dolbeck said. "It says to me it's getting pretty scary in an area that's usually pretty calm."

Dolbeck says he will be warning his tenants to keep an eye out for anything suspicious. He's also going to check to make sure the lights at the back of his buildings, which are on timers, are all working properly.

Andrée East, a spokesperson with Gatineau police, wouldn't comment on whether police have any suspects or if there is evidence to link the four fires.