A five-alarm fire hit Anjou’s industrial district early Tuesday morning.
The blaze started at 3:45 a.m. at a plastic bag manufacturing plant called Faspac Plastiks Inc., on Jules Léger Street, in between Ray Lawson and Parkway Boulevards.
According to the fire department, employees told them the fire started when a solvent used to clean the printer was spilled onto the ground and somehow caught fire.
There were about 10 employees in the building at the time the blaze.
They all managed to escape unharmed.
Between 100 and 140 firefighters were on hand.
The building’s roof collapsed around 6:30 a.m., making it difficult for firefighters to battle the flames.
“We’re trying with our water guns to get close to the fire,” said chief of operations at the Montreal Fire Department, John Primiani. “We have a pay loader coming over, to help us take the structure out and we’re gonna have better access to the centre of the fire.”
According to Faspac Plastiks’ President, they purchased the building in January.
They had recently finished renovations and were in the process of moving in.
They were in their first week of production.
The fire department said Hydro-Quebec shut down the electricity in the area as a security precaution.
Environment Quebec was on-site to ensure air quality levels were safe for the public.
— with files from Global’s Felicia Parrillo and Yannick Gadbois.