An Ottawa woman is crediting her recently adopted dog with alerting her to a fire that swept through a multi-residential house in Hintonburg as residents slept early Wednesday morning.

Several people called 911 at about 3:45 a.m. to report the fire at 24 Spadina Ave., between Somerset Street West and Gladstone Avenue. The flames shot into the air, spreading to two neighbouring homes and damaging others, Ottawa firefighters say.

Flames were shooting from the roof at 24 Spadina Ave. when fire crews arrived early Wednesday morning. (CBC)

In all, people in 10 units were displaced — four at 24 Spadina Ave. and the other six in neighbouring houses.

Jordi Cumber, who lives on the third floor of 24 Spadina Ave., told CBC her 9-year-old dog Moss, which she adopted about a month ago, alerted her and her partner to the fire.

"I woke up ... to hear her kind of thrashing around a lot. She doesn't bark. So I got up to go check on her and that's when I saw just a big wall of fire. So I yelled for my partner to come and I just quickly grabbed some medication ... grabbed my teddy bear from when I was a baby, and my computer," Cumber said.

"She woke us up just in time."

"We're attributing some of the rescue to Moss, who woke up residents and started the evacuation process," said Ottawa Fire Services spokeswoman Danielle Cardinal.

Cumber adopted Moss, an all-white Husky mix, from an organization that rescues former sled dogs.

"She's pretty special. ... She's amazing, she's an angel," Cumber said.

'A big wall of fire'

Lucy Manniapik, who lives on the ground floor at 24 Spadina Ave., says she had to break a screen in her window to escape the building. (CBC) Cumber's ground floor neighbour Lucy Manniapik said she woke up to what she thought was the smell of a neighbour making popcorn.

"I went to my dining room and that's when I noticed an orange glow colour through the window. I opened the door and there was fire right in front of my door, so I couldn't get out through the door — there's only one door in my apartment," Manniapik said.

The fire at 24 Spadina Ave. started on a rear second-floor deck and spread to two neighbouring homes. No one was injured. (Giacomo Panico/CBC) She ran back to the bedroom to get dressed and opened a window to escape.

"I started panicking because the screen wouldn't open, so I broke it and I got out," she said.

Sections of Somerset and Spadina were closed to traffic Wednesday morning but have since reopened.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

<a href="https://twitter.com/CBCOttawa">@CBCOttawa</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/OttawaCitizen">@OttawaCitizen</a> giant fire that ripped through 5 houses in hintonburgh! <a href="https://t.co/L9q8dkJoiL">pic.twitter.com/L9q8dkJoiL</a> —@shoopda1