Firefighters called to five-alarm fire in downtown Montreal
More than 150 firefighters were called to a major fire in downtown Montreal Friday evening.
The Service de sécurité incendie de Montréal (SIM) was called just before 8 p.m. and responded to 639 Notre-Dame Street West, a three-storey commercial building that was built in 1950.
The scene of the fire is near the intersection of Notre-Dame and McGill streets, near Old Montreal.
Video posted on social media showed large flames and black smoke bursting from the top of the building as fire crews doused the roof with water.
SIM spokesperson Sylvain Jalbert told CTV News that there were no reported injuries and the building damaged by the fire was unoccupied. Police confirmed there were no commercial tenants at the time of the fire.
Quebecor CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that all employees who were in the company's adjacent building have been safely evacuated.
The fire operation continued into the evening hours on Friday.
SATURDAY: ARSON SQUAD STANDING BY
The building appeared too unstable to enter Saturday morning, Montreal police confirmed.
The cause of the fire is still unknown. However, the arson squad was standing by.
While no accelerant was found at the scene, police said authorities were ready to enter once the building was fortified to continue their investigation. That stabilizing work was still in-progress Saturday afternoon.
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