Residents were forced to jump to safety as they fled a blaze that erupted in a 21-story building in Germany. 

The fire broke out at around 6.30am local time on Friday in Berlin's Friedrichshain neighbourhood, German news outlet dga reported.

Footage captures the moment a woman escapes the fire onto a narrow window ledge around 35 metres above the ground as flames engulf the high-rise building. 

Her legs dangle as she perches mere metres away from an aggressive fire raging out of the window of a flat. 

The clip shows as the woman then attempts to get a grip on the building and climb down to a firefighter who is two floors below her on a ladder basket. 

She, however, fails to reach her saviour as her feet slide on the building. 

As the nearby fire continues to rage and smoke intensifies, the woman is left with no other option but to leap from the building and is safely caught by the firefighter.

At least five people were injured during the incident which is understood to have started in a flat on the eleventh floor and spread to the floor above. 

The fire was brought under control in under three hours. 

The incident came months after hundreds of people were forced to flee a nightclub in Germany in March as a fire ripped through and destroyed the building. 

Images from the scene at the K Club in Kehl – on the French border in the southwest of the country – show the blaze raging on the establishment's roof as party-goers struggle desperately to escape.

The fire began around 3.45am local time and went on to 'spread over the whole building', police said.

Around 750 people are thought to have been in the club at the time and they were all able to escape, with three people treated by emergency services for shock.

Photos show teams of firefighters battling the inferno as it spread across the nightclub, which is located in an industrial area of the city.

Authorities said the damage was so extensive that most of the building had to be torn down.

In a statement, Kehl's mayor Wolfram Britz said he was 'happy and relieved that nobody was hurt' and thanked the nightclub owner for ensuring an orderly evacuation.

Firefighters remained on the scene into Sunday afternoon, with remnants of the blaze being extinguished in the interior of the building.

The club is a popular destination for fans of hip-hop music and attracts hundreds of revellers each weekend.

Kehl lies directly across the Rhine River from the French city of Strasbourg, and the club regularly attracts visitors from across the border.

German media reported that at least 80 personnel from the fire department, police, and emergency medical services attended the scene.

A reveller told the local French newspaper DNA: 'All of a sudden we heard: 'there's a fire!' There were several announcements in German, French and English.'

The paper quoted clubbers as saying the staff 'handled it really well' and the evacuation was 'very quick'.

An investigation was opened into the blaze, the cause of which was not immediately clear.