There were more than 100 firefighters at the Old Montreal fire, and 9 people were taken to the hospital
A five-alarm fire broke out in a historic building in Old Montreal on Thursday morning. At least one person is missing.
Around 5:45 a.m., a fire broke out in a building at the corner of Place d’Youville and Saint-Nicolas Street, just behind the Pointe-à-Callière museum.
As people tried desperately to escape the flames, more than 100 firefighters were sent to the area. Someone jumped out of a window, at least.
“People broke the windows and said, ‘I want to get out, there’s a fire inside, help me,'” said Guy Allard, a security guard at the Pointe-à-Callière museum who got to work early on Thursday and saw the flames. “It was definitely scary.”
WATCH | A historic building in Old Montreal is being burned down:
Urgences-santé says that 12 people were hurt and taken to the hospital by ambulance. The firefighters used ladder trucks to get people out of condos on the upper floors.
Richard Liebmann, the head of the Montreal fire department, told reporters that nine people with burns and smoke inhalation were taken to the hospital. He said that three of them are in critical condition and six have mostly minor injuries.
Liebmann said that investigators haven’t been able to find one person and don’t know how many people were staying in the building because some of the units were used as Airbnb rentals.
The fire lit up the neighborhood and threatened nearby buildings, including the Pointe-à-Callière historic site and museum, which was not damaged but will be closed on Friday.
Liebmann said that the heat from the fire may have caused an air conditioning unit on a nearby roof to blow up, but firefighters were able to stop the fire from spreading and put out the flames.
According to the, the building was built in 1890 by a wealthy businessman named William Watson Ogilvie.Website for the City of Montreal’s Old Montreal. The Ogilvie Milling Company’s headquarters were in this three-story building. It was made of stone, and its arched windows and wood-paneled lobby were made of stone.
The ground floor is now home to a company of architects. The two floors above are where people live.
Liebmann said that it is too soon to guess what caused the fire.
The building was being looked at by structural engineers to see how much of it could be saved.
He said, “We’re going to do everything we can to save what’s left of the building.” “We don’t want to put anyone’s life in danger to save a building, but we know the building is important and has a lot of history.”
Hotels close to where the fire was also told to get everyone out.
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 had to leave his things at the hotel because he was scared by what had happened.
Secretary of the Old Montreal Residents’ Association (ARVM) Fiona Ham 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.”