Neighbours carried an elderly woman down 15 flights of stairs to safety on Thursday evening after an apartment in their West End Vancouver building caught fire.

Firefighters were called to the building at Comox and Thurlow streets at about 6:15 p.m. PT after smoke and flames began billowing out of an apartment on the 14th floor, according to assistant fire chief Trevor Connelly.

Building resident Marieke Leliveld heard the fire alarm and was on her way out through the stairs when she noticed an elderly neighbour sitting on a chair outside one of the suites, unable to make it down on