Woman dies after fire in Saint-Jerome

A Sûreté du Québec police cruiser. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson)

Quebec provincial police are investigating after a woman lost her life in a fire in Saint-Jérôme, north of Montreal.

At 7 a.m. Sunday, firefighters were alerted to a burning building on Saint-Georges Street.

"After many hours of fighting the blaze, at around 2:30 p.m., they discovered an unconscious person," said Sûreté du Québec (SQ) spokesperson Audrey-Anne Bilodeau.

She adds the fire was in a commercial building that had an apartment upstairs.

The victim was taken to hospital in critical condition.

She was later pronounced dead.

"The building could be declared a total loss given the extent of the damage," said Bilodeau.

The cause of the fire remained unknown Sunday evening.

SQ investigators and fire scene technicians are slated to be on the scene Monday morning to shed light on the circumstances surrounding the incident.

-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Dec. 11, 2023.