There were more than 100 firefighters at the Old Montreal fire, and 6 people were taken to the hospital
On Thursday morning, there was a five-alarm fire in Old Montreal that firefighters had to fight.
Around 5:45 a.m., a fire broke out in a building at the corner of Place d’Youville and Saint-Nicolas Street, right behind the Pointe-à-Callière museum.
Condos on the upper floors had to be evacuated, and ambulances came to help 12 people who were hurt. Ten of them were taken to the hospital.
Guy Allard, who works in security at the Pointe-à-Callière Museum one block east of the fire, said he was shocked to see the building on fire when he got there this morning.
“People broke the windows and said, ‘I want to get out, there’s a fire inside, help me,'” he said.
“It was definitely scary.”
A wealthy businessman named William Watson Ogilvie built the building in 1890, according to the Old Montreal information website for the City of Montreal. It was a three-story building that was made for the Ogilvie Milling Company’s main office. It was made of stone, and its arched windows and wood-paneled lobby were made of stone.
It had business space on the first floor, and apartments on the second and third floors.
The ground floor is now home to an architecture firm, and the two floors above are condos.
Martin Guilbault, who is in charge of operations for the Montreal fire department, said that the fire spread quickly. When firefighters got there, they had to use a ladder to save people from the third floor.
Guilbault said that nine people were taken to the hospital for burns on their hands and faces, and three people were taken to the hospital for burns on their lungs.
WATCH | Flames cover a heritage building in Old Montreal:
“Right now, the fire is under control,” he said.
“All of the smaller fires in the building need to be put out. It could take up to two hours.”
In some parts of Old Montreal, the power was turned off so that firefighters could do their jobs safely. Guilbault said it is too soon to know where the fire started and what caused it.
On Twitter, Mayor Valérie Plante asked people to stay away from the area if they could.
She thanked the people who were there to make sure everyone was safe.
There were also evacuations at hotels close to where the fire was.
Nate Tipple and his partner were from Oklahoma City. They went to Montreal. When they woke up, they could smell smoke.
“Until we went outside, we weren’t sure the fire wasn’t coming from inside the hotel,” he said.
“I just want to make sure that everyone is okay. The most scary thing was seeing people leave through the windows.”
Tipple, who said that the events had left him shaken, had to leave his things at the hotel.
Fiona Ham, who is the secretary of the Old Montreal Residents’ Association (ARVM), said that her father called her early in the morning to tell her about the fire.
She said, “It’s always sad to see a historic building get hurt.”
“We appreciate how quickly and many firefighters came to help. We’re always here for people who live in the area.”