Another fatal fire in Toronto has once again prompted the fire chief to call for mandatory sprinklers in homes.

One person is dead and five others were taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation after a three-alarm fire ripped through an apartment building near Keele Street and Sheppard Avenue Monday morning.

Fire Chief William Stewart said a sprinkler would have saved the day.

"It probably would have saved this man's life," he told reporters at the scene.

Most of the tenants of the three-storey building are seniors, many of whom use wheelchairs or scooters to get around.

Firefighters were dispatched to the scene at about 6:50 a.m. The smoke was so thick in the hallways, residents were evacuated through windows by firefighters using ladders.

"I opened my door and the smoke just about choked me right up and I said 'hey, no way I'm getting out there,'" one tenant told CTV Toronto. "I couldn't see across the hall the smoke was so bad.

Most of the residents have been let back into their apartments, while others sought shelter at a nearby church.

The fire broke out on the ground floor of the Toronto housing complex, according to reports.

The 75-year-old man has not yet been identified. His cat also perished in the fire.

One resident said he tried to save the man but the smoke was overwhelming.

"I grabbed the key and I cracked the door open and boom, it was like -- it's as black as your coat," Tom Beverly told CTV Toronto.

"I'm really upset about it, you know what I mean? Because he was my friend."

"He was a great old guy," said another neighbour. "He was a vet -- a navy vet and he liked to talk about his experiences in the navy.

"He was quite a colourful fella, harmless as anything very nice to talk to," he added. "Im very sad to see this happen to him."

Stewart said he is pushing for legislation to make sprinklers mandatory in new buildings. Older buildings would not be required to be retrofitted under the proposed law.

The Fire Marshal's Office is investigating the cause of the fire.

Councillor wants audit

This is the second fire to rip through a public housing complex in less than a month. A mother and her two children died in a fire just before Christmas.

Each unit is checked annually by the city but one local councillor said more should be done to ensure the tenants' safety.

The recent fire-related tragedies have prompted Toronto Community Housing and the fire department to start a public awareness campaign on fire safety.

Nonetheless, Coun. Anthony Perruzza said he also wants an independent audit into the safety of the buildings. He said he will push city council to formally ask for the audit.

"We need to get into some of these places and take a look at the safety measures that are in place," he told CTV Toronto.

He said there should be more education on fire safety for tenants as well.

Perruzza said the government should support an update to the fire code to make sprinklers necessary in new buildings.

"The government has resisted it," he said. "But I believe in this instance safety should trump politics."

With a report from CTV Toronto's Matet Nebres and Naomi Parness