MONTREAL – A five-alarm fire left 17 people homeless Friday night in Villeray.
The fire broke out around 7:30 p.m. on Casgrain Avenue near Cremazie Boulevard East. Flames began to tear through a number of apartment blocks, forcing 13 units to be evacuated.
Firefighters worked for roughly five hours in frigid temperatures to get the blaze under control.
“There were about 130 firefighters on the scene,” said Bruno Ruscio, Chief of Operations for the Montreal Fire Service.
“It was a very difficult fire to work with, but we managed to get the best of it.”
The fire started on the first floor at 8630 Casgrain Avenue, before spreading to the rear balconies and making its way up to the roof.
Firefighters confirmed it was not the result of criminal activity; the fire was purely accidental.
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“By what I heard, it’s someone that was cooking something and the oil caught on fire on the stove and he threw it outside, so the balcony started to burn,” said Marcel Guilbault who’s duplex was among the affected buildings.
The property has been in his family since 1949.
“It could have been quite bad to lose it all, after all that time,” said Guilbault. “A lot of souvenirs.”
Saturday morning, residents returned to the scene to assess the damage, and to salvage anything they could.
Martin Boutin, who lives in the unit above where the fire started, said he heard people screaming. When he ran to the back of the building to see what the commotion was, he noticed the flames. That’s when the smoke began to suffocate him, so he grabbed his boots and ran out. He lost everything.
“I have no more clothes to go to work on Monday,” said Boutin. “I have nothing.”
Both Guilbault and Boutin are thankful they have insurance, but couldn’t say whether that’s the case for their neighbours as well.
“I don’t know how I feel yet,” Guilbault told Global News Saturday morning. “There’s a bit of rage, a bit of discomfort.”
Still, as rough as it may seem now, both men are choosing to stay positive and acknowledge they’ll be back on their feet before long.
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