Three separate fires destroy multiple vehicles overnight

The series of suspicious vehicle fires in Montreal continued Wednesday night and into Thursday when several cars and a school bus were destroyed by flames in three separate scenes that police are investigating.

The investigation of all three fires was turned over to the Montreal police (SPVM) arson squad. No arrests had been reported as of Thursday morning, and no one appeared to be injured.

At about 11:25 p.m. Wednesday, six cars parked on a lot in an industrial sector of the borough of Saint-Laurent, in northwest Montreal, were ravaged by fire and are total losses. SPVM officers assisted firefighters from the Montreal fire department (SSIM) in extinguishing the fire, which occurred on Lebeau Boulevard, near the intersection of Côte-de-Liesse Road.

The causes and circumstances of the destruction of the vehicles were not yet known at the end of the night on Thursday. The first searches of the rubble did not reveal any incendiary objects.

Six vehicles were torched in a fire on Lebeau Street in Montreal's Saint-Laurent borough. (Cosmo Santamaria/CTV News)

At around 1 a.m. on Thursday, the fire caused the total loss of a school bus which was not in a fit state to drive, according to the police. The vehicle was parked on a property on Jarry Street East, near the intersection of Langelier Boulevard, in the borough of Saint-Leonard, in northeast Montreal.

The flames caused minor damage to an adjacent building. Like the fire in Saint-Laurent, no incendiary object was found.

This was the second time in 24 hours that a school bus was torched by fire in Saint-Léonard.

On Wednesday night, a similar vehicle was engulfed in flames on the lot next to a garage on Magloire Street.

Finally, around 1:15 a.m. on Thursday, a car parked on the street and a sport utility vehicle (SUV) that had been parked nearby, in the driveway of a private residence caught fire and were heavily damaged on London Avenue near the intersection of Henri-Bourassa Boulevard East, in the Montreal North borough.

In this case, firefighters found that products had been used to fan the flames.

At the end of the night, the two vehicles were towed away to be examined by SPVM investigators.

Two vehicles were destroyed in fires in Montreal North on April 27, 2023. Firefighters found an accelerant in the rubble and the case is with the Montreal police arson squad. (Cosmo Santamaria/CTV News)

These three vehicle fires followed several others that have occurred in recent days on the island of Montréal.

One fire was set in a vehicle parked in a residential driveway on Jacques-Chan Street in Kirkland, and another occurred in a private driveway on Rosemont Boulevard in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. Tractor trailers were heavily damaged by flames on the grounds of a commercial establishment in Dorval, and a car parked in a driveway on Antoine-Faucon Street in Pierrefonds was also torched.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on April 27, 2023.