Three suspicious fires destroy multiple vehicles in Montreal, including school bus

A series of three suspicious vehicle fires in Montreal on Wednesday night and into Thursday – including several cars and a school bus were destroyed.

The investigation of all of these incidents was turned over to the Montreal police arson squad (SPVM). No arrests were reported as of Thursday morning and no one appeared to be injured.

Around 11:25 p.m. Wednesday, seven cars parked on a lot in an industrial sector of Saint-Laurent were destroyed by flames. Firefighters called to Lebeau Boulevard, near Côte-de-Liesse Road. The first searches of the rubble did not reveal any incendiary object.

Around 1 a.m. Thursday, another fire caused the total loss of a school bus. The vehicle was parked on a property on Jarry Street East, near the intersection of Langelier Boulevard, in Saint-Leonard. The flames caused minor damage to an adjacent building. Like the fire in Saint-Laurent, no incendiary object was found.

This was the second time in 24 hours that a school bus was destroyed by fire in Saint-Leonard. On Wednesday night, a similar vehicle was engulfed in flames in the parking of a garage on Magloire Street.

Finally, around 1:15 a.m. Thursday, a car parked on the street and an SUV nearby, in the driveway of a private residence, caught fire, and were heavily damaged on London Avenue, near Henri-Bourassa Boulevard east, in Montreal-North.

In this case, firefighters found that products had been used to fan the flames.

These three vehicle fires are just the latest in a series of suspicious fires targeting vehicles in the last few days on the island of Montreal.

One fire was set in a vehicle parked in a residential driveway on Jacques-Chan Street in Kirkland, and another in a private driveway on Rosemont Boulevard in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. Tractors were also heavily damaged by flames on the grounds of a commercial establishment in Dorval and a car parked in a driveway on Antoine-Faucon Street in Pierrefonds were also set on fire recently.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French, April 27, 2023.