A major blaze has gutted a commercial building in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, in Montreal’s West Island.
The three-alarm fire was at Marco’s Restaurant, located at 82 Sainte-Anne Street. The adjacent buildings were also evacuated.
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Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue Mayor Paola Hawa told Global News she spoke to the restaurant’s owner and says he is devastated. She notes there was a previous fire at the restaurant in 2009.
“He’s actually almost nauseous from this whole thing, just can’t believe this is happening again,” she said. “It’s a sad time for him.”
About 90 firefighters from across Montreal assisted in extinguishing the blaze. Firefighters say the flames started on the first floor.
“It was not easy to go on the second floor, all the doors were locked and closed with plywood,” said Eric Dehmen, the fire department’s chief of operations. “So we had a bad time and a hard time to get inside.”
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Officials say the fire does not appear to be criminally set. There were no reported injuries, but the building is a total loss.
As of Tuesday evening, the building is not at risk of collapsing.
Firefighters say they don’t yet know what caused the fire, but they will be investigating.
— With files from Global News’ Gloria Henriquez