Two fires in Montreal early Monday, one deadly

A 78-year-old man died in a fire in Verdun early Monday morning.

The blaze broke out just before 5 a.m. in a triplex located on Bannantyne Avenue, near Stephens street.

When firefighters arrived on the scene, they found the man.

“During that intervention, there was a man aged of 78 years old that was found in one of those apartments. That man was rushed to the hospital where he was unconscious during his transport,” said Jean-Pierre Brabant, spokesperson from the Montreal Police.

“Unfortunately, when he arrived at the hospital, he was pronounced dead. So for that reason, the investigation was transferred to the arson squad of the Montreal police. We have investigators this morning that were doing the analysis of the scene to try to understand a bit more the exact cause of the fire and the circumstances that led to the fire.”

A firefighter was also injured and transported to hospital. His life is not in danger.

Residents were evacuated from their homes and the investigation has been transferred to the Montreal police force.

Fire in Montreal’s Quartier Latin

Another fire broke out overnight in the Quartier Latin in downtown Montreal.

911 calls came in around 1:30 a.m. for a blaze that started in a three story building on Saint-Denis, near Émery.

Two families were evacuated from the building.

Some hundred firefighters were on the scene to fight the five-alarm fire.

“The fire department were not able to determine the exact cause of that fire. So for that reason, investigation was transferred to the arson squad. The Montreal police investigators are on site this morning to try to determine that cause of that fire,” said Brabant. “For now, we don’t have any reason on how [the fire] started.”