There have been chaotic scenes at a Wollongong unit complex as fire forced the evacuation of 300 residents on Monday night.
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An elderly woman was the only casualty of the blaze, taken to hospital suffering smoke inhalation.
The fire badly damaged the woman's fourth floor unit, and threatened numerous other homes within the nine-storey complex.
Fire and Rescue NSW rushed to the address about 6.30pm, finding the unit well alight.
Emergency services were faced with the challenge of accessing the building in the midst of a mass evacuation, said Fire and Rescue NSW's Inspector Chad Wallace.
"Firefighters were initially hampered by 300 people trying to exit the building as they were trying to get into the building to attack the fire," Insp Wallace told the Mercury.
"The first arriving crew noticed the smoke and escalated the response to 10 fire trucks, which brought 40 firefighters to the scene.
"Those first arriving crews had to aggressively attack that fire on level four and at the same time try to safely evacuate people.
"So those firefighters used every bit of their experience in successfully holding that fire to the unit where the fire started.
"They prevented it from extending into the units next door and above and at the same time safely evacuated those 300 people."
An automatic fire alarm set off the emergency response.
Firefighters arrived to find a large amount of smoke billowing from the fourth floor and impacting the homes in the five floors above.
The Wollongong crews were supported by trucks from Warrawong, Dapto, Albion Park, Shellharbour, Balgownie, Corrimal and Bulli.
"They all worked together to bring the fire under control in about an hour and firefighters are now concentrating their efforts on removing smoke from all nine levels so that occupants can return to the building," Insp Wallace said.
"The unit involved was totally destroyed, so that occupant - an elderly lady - won't be returning to that unit."
The woman was taken by ambulance to Wollongong Hospital to be treated for what the Mercury understands was minor smoke inhalation.
Roads in the surrounding area were closed as residents flooded the street and emergency services worked to manage the evacuation.
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