Firefighters were called to battle a two-alarm fire in Montreal’s Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough at around 7 a.m. Sunday morning.
Benoît Martel, chief of operations with the Montreal fire department said the building, located at the intersection of Bessborough Avenue and Borden Place, was under renovations.
“They want to make apartments,” he said.
When firefighters arrived, the fire was burning between the basement and the first floor.
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Martel said it was difficult to tackle due to limited crawl space in the basement.
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“The basement is one to three feet, so we had problems going under the floor,” he said. “That’s why we have to work it by the top floor.
The frigid temperatures also hampered efforts to bring the fire under control.
“It’s very cold for firefighters. It’s tough for them and it’s tough for all the equipment,” Martel said, adding they had problems with pipes and water quickly freezing.
Around 50 firefighters and 15 trucks were needed to battle the blaze.
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There were no reports of injury, as the building was empty.
Martel said the cause of the fire is still under investigation.
“We just suspect, for now, a problem with renovations,” he said.
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