A five-alarm fire in Montreal forced several businesses to close and more than 150 firefighters worked to put out the flames Thursday.
Montreal fire department section chief Robert Rousseau said the fire started on a balcony at the rear of a building on Laurier Avenue, between St-Urbain and Esplanade streets, in the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough.
No injuries have been reported to date, though five people were taken into the care of the Red Cross.
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Rousseau said the teams on the ground are also dealing with hot weather, which makes the situation more challenging.
Firefighters at the scene must keep rotating to rest and there is a sprinkler on site for them to cool down. Four of them were treated for heat stroke on site.
As of 11 a.m., the fire is considered under control but crews continue to work to extinguish the flames.
The fire department also had to open the roofs of neighbouring buildings to make sure the fire didn’t spread.
Rousseau said the cause of the blaze is not yet known.