Fire and smoke engulfed a courthouse in Quebec’s Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean region on Saturday night, causing major damage to the 111-year-old building.
Quebec provincial police say the fire broke out at about 7 p.m. at the building in Roberval, a city on the shore of Lac-St-Jean.
Several local fire departments were called to help put out the blaze, which police described as major.
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A video broadcast by local media outlet L’Étoile du Lac showed flames and smoke shooting from the roof of the Victorian-style building, which was under renovation.
Police erected a safety perimeter around the site and several nearby homes were evacuated.
A document produced by the city and the province’s culture ministry says the pink granite building designed by architect Joseph-Pierre Ouellet was built in 1910 and was meant to resemble Quebec City’s Parliament.
Quebec Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette was one of several politicians who took to Twitter to express his shock at the fire.
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“We knew to what point this project was important to the community and we share the citizens’ sadness,” he wrote.
“I will be talking today with local officials in order to plan the next steps. But one thing is certain, we intend to rebuild.”
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