There are more than 100 firefighters at the Old Montreal fire scene, and 6 people are in the hospital
A five-alarm fire is burning in Old Montreal, and firefighters are working to put it out.
At 5:45 a.m. on Thursday, 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.
Residents have been moved to safety, and ambulances are on the scene to help people who are hurt. Urgences-Santé said that 12 people were hurt, and 10 of those people were taken to the hospital. There are ambulances on site.
Guy Allard, who works in security at the Pointe-à-Callière Museum, said that he was shocked to see the building on fire when he got to work in the 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.”
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Martin Guilbault, who is in charge of operations for the Montreal fire department, said that the fire spread quickly. When firefighters got to the scene, they had to use ladders to get people from the third floor.
Nine people had burns on their hands and faces, and three people had burns on their lungs, Guilbault says.
“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 has been turned off so that firefighters can 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.
People who were staying in hotels near where the fire was were also told to leave.
Nate Tipple and his partner are coming from Oklahoma City, OK to visit 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 scariest thing was seeing people leave through the windows.”
Tipple says that the events are still shaking him up, so he 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.”