An early morning apartment fire in Dartmouth has claimed the life of one person.

At 3:35 a.m. Saturday, officers responded to a fire at an apartment building at 81 Primose St. in Dartmouth.

Deputy Fire Chief Roy Hollett confirmed that one person died as a result of the fire, and a second person was sent to hospital.

The name, age and gender of the deceased has not been released.

The building was evacuated as crews continue to work on battling the blaze.

The Canadian Red Cross says about 150 tenants have been displaced by the fire on Primrose St.

"The damage is confined to the apartments around the fire, about 4-6 of them, we're trying to see if we can isolate the power and water to other parts of the building and eventually get people back inside." said Deputy Fire Chief Hollett.

While the fire was mostly contained to a few apartments, other units have been suffered smoke and water damage and the power has been disconnected to the entire 80-unit complex, so all tenants may be displaced for period of time.

Emergency volunteers with the Canadian Red Cross have opened up a reception centre at the Islamic Association of Nova Scotia mosque at 45 Leaman Dr. to assist with anyone who was displaced by the fire.

Red Cross teams are also interviewing tenants to determine other emergency needs like clothing, food and other essentials.

As they were responding to the fire on Primrose St., officers received a call to a second building fire in the neighbourhood of North End Dartmouth.

At 5:15 a.m., officers responded to Robert Burns Dr. and Brule St. for a report of another building on fire. Officers remain on scene assisting and both Robert Burns Dr. and Brule St. are closed to all traffic.

Deputy Fire Chief Hollett says it is too early to say if the fires are connected.

"Right now it's just a coincidence, we're still working on determining exactly where the fire started, once we have the cause down or at least an area of origin we can investigate, but right now it's just a coincidence," said Hollett.

A number of streets remain closed to traffic and police are asking the public to avoid the area, and not drive over fire hoses if they come upon them.

At this time both fire scenes are being invesitgated by Halifax Fire, but if either fire is determined suspicious, the investigation will then be turned over to police to investigate.