Officials must secure the asbestos-infested site of a fire that engulfed a historic building in Montreal's Chinatown Thursday before investigating its cause.

Not officially classified as a heritage site, the Robillard building was built in the 1890s. In June 1896 it became the first movie theatre in Canada.

The fire started around 11:20 a.m. Thursday in the abandoned building on St-Laurent Blvd. near Viger St.

A witness said he spotted flames coming from the second floor of the building.

“I saw a little smoke coming out at first,” said eyewitness Marcel Bernard, “then it turned into thick black smoke.”

Bernard said he notified staff at the Old Brewery Mission, who called 9-1-1.

Dozens of firefighters rushed to the scene but the flames quickly engulfed the entire building at 974 St. Laurent and spread to the adjoining building.

“We heard three booms: Boom! Boom! Boom!” said Bernard.

It was the sound of the top floors caving in, as some of the external walls also began to collapse at 11:45 a.m., as firefighters were still arriving at the scene.

Early reports were that the Holiday Inn in Chinatown was affected but that is not the case. The building on fire is directly to the east of the hotel.

There is no word of any injuries, however the smoke and ash were so thick that people evacuated the area and one of the entrances to Place d’Armes metro station was closed.

The Montreal courthouse on the other side of the Ville-Marie Expressway turned off its ventilation system.

Firefighters had been notified they were walking into a building that was considered dangerous, said Yvon Daunais of the Montreal fire department, adding that because some of the floors had been removed, it allowed the flames to spread much more quickly. Due to the raging inferno, firefighters did not enter the building as they battled the blaze.

By 12:15 p.m. the largest flames, which had been rising dozens of metres into the air, were gone, although copious amounts of black smoke were still billowing from the building.

As firefighters continued to douse the structure in water, they ordered the evacuation of the area because of fears the walls would collapse and cause damage or injury.

At 1:40 p.m., firefighters said the fire was now under control, and that the spread of flames to adjoining buildings had been limited.

The cause of the fire is so far unclear. Firefighters confirmed there was no electricity inside the building.

With the fire under control, health officials are concerned with its effects, including asbestos.

The building's owner had requested permits to undergo substantial renovations -- to the roof, the first floor, the basement and the facade -- but that work was not completed.

In April, the Quebec health and safety board halted renovations because there was too much asbestos, said contractor Roberto Labrie.

The fire department, however, said there is no immediate health danger for anyone.

“The perimeter is large enough to protect us,” said Daunais, adding that the stability of the remaining structure now remains the largest concern.

Geoffrey Moreau, the owner of neighbouring Cafe Bonita, said that he has yet to find out whether his coffee shop will be demolished due to safety concerns. 

We need to find ways to protect heritage and landmarks from fire, said Heritage Montreal's Dinu Bumbaru.

“We have a lot of drawings and pictures of this building so it could be reconstituted. The Polish people rebuilt Warsaw after the war. Is this the thing we would like to see? We had in May an international experts meeting in Montreal about preventing losses of heritage,” he said. “We all care about what’s happening in Syria with Palmyra and all the historic town there, but somehow at home, we have this issue of preventing losses of heritage to disaster like this one.”

Police are continuing to question witnesses about the fire.

The building's owner was unavailable to comment.