Firefighters in Longueuil battling huge blaze, air quality to be assessed

Environment Quebec looks into major industrial fire Longueuil firefighters battled a major fire in an industrial sector in St-Hubert.

Firefighters in Longueuil are battling a huge blaze at a titanium recycling plant in the borough of Saint-Hubert.

First-responders received a 911 call at 8:20 a.m. Wednesday about the fire at Metalliage Inc., in an industrial area on Ramsay Street.

About 60 firefighters are working to control the flames.

Longueuil Fire Chief Mario Martin explains the blaze started in the backyard.

"There are some particles that flew onto palettes containing titanium," he said. "That makes it difficult to extinguish with water, so we may have to move to sand."

Quebec's environment ministry says because of the materials involved, it is sending a team to assess the air quality in the area.

Firefighters say an evacuation of the building was not deemed necessary.