HAMILTON—It’s not yet clear what caused the fire that killed a woman inside an apartment in northeast Hamilton on Monday night, but it is being investigated as suspicious because of what happened in the lead-up to the blaze.

This includes an ongoing landlord-tenant dispute, the fact that people were heard shouting, that two people ran out of the apartment just before the fire and the fact that the fire flared up so quickly, said Det. Sgt. Peter Thom, of the Hamilton Police Service’s major crime unit.

He described the suspicious circumstances as a “a constellation of odd behaviours and information.”

The woman was believed to be “couch surfing,” staying in an upstairs apartment at 104 Beach Rd., at the corner of Gage Avenue North, when fire broke out around 7:20 p.m. on Monday, Thom said.

The woman killed in the fire is believed to be an innocent party who just happened to be in the apartment when the fire started.

An autopsy was completed Tuesday afternoon. Police have notified family, but are giving them some time to notify extended family before releasing her name.

Thom said he was still waiting for the official cause of death, but the “initial belief is it’s likely smoke inhalation.”

The fire, which also killed two dogs in the apartment, was contained to one of two upstairs units in the five-unit building. Thom described the apartment unit as a “flop house” that had transient guests.

The registered tenant of the apartment and a female friend were seen leaving the building just before neighbours noticed the fire, he said.

As police were looking for them, they returned to the building around 2:15 a.m. on Tuesday. They were arrested and questioned. They have been “released unconditionally,” he said. However, Thom said they were told detectives may want to speak with them further.

Hamilton police secured a warrant to examine the apartment Tuesday afternoon. An investigator with the Office of the Fire Marshal, who will determine the cause of the blaze for police, will be examining the fire scene on Wednesday.

Amber McMeechan lives in a house across the street from the apartment. She said police were at the building before the fire Monday because of issues between the man who rented that apartment unit and the landlord.

Later that evening, she and her 1-year-old were at home while her older children were at a friend’s place in one of the bottom units of the apartment building. Another neighbour roused her when she noticed smoke coming from the upstairs apartment.

She did not hear smoke alarms when she went to get the kids and her neighbours out.

McMeechan said another tenant she knows in the building told her he heard someone shouting to “get out” and then heavy footsteps on the stairs before the fire.

McMeechan believed the woman had only been staying there for about a week.

In the chaos of the fire scene, someone told McMeechan the woman was laying down or sleeping. However, Thom would not comment on where in the apartment the victim was found.

The property owner, Reisha Dass, said there was an ongoing issue with the tenant of that unit and they had a court date to try to evict him set for the end of July.

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She didn’t know the other women, including the victim, who were staying there.

The man, who The Hamilton Spectator is not naming because he has not been charged, moved into the three-bedroom unit with a roommate in April 2018. But after a fight, that roommate moved out in March, Dass said.

Despite it being against his lease, he started letting others rent out rooms, she said.

There were many complaints from other tenants about his dogs barking and not being walked, including urine leaking into other units, Dass said.

On Monday, the property manager went for a site visit but was not let in and police were called. No one was let in the apartment Monday, but on previous visits the property manger found evidence of drugs in the apartment, Dass said.

She questioned whether the landlord-tenant issues could have played any part in the fire, as they were ongoing and it was likely more than a month, depending on the Landlord Tenant Board, before they could force an eviction.

Hamilton Fire Department Chief Dave Cunliffe said they found a well-involved fire with heavy smoke and flames visible on arrival.

One person was helped out of the building from the first floor by paramedics.

The woman was found in the upstairs apartment and carried out without vital signs. She was transported to the Hamilton General Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Thom said her death is being classified as a “suspicious fire death” at the moment.

“Without the autopsy, without the search of the premises ... and the fire marshal giving their opinion, there is still quite a lot of work to do,” he said.

Thom said police are not looking for any other suspects.