Residents of a condo building near Atwater Market were escorted inside Monday to retrieve a few belongings after a five-alarm fire tore through the roof a day earlier. At least 28 families are affected. People gathered outside the damaged building Monday, waiting their turn to go in. A fast-moving fire The fire broke out on the roof Sunday afternoon and spread quickly. “It was extremely fast. It engulfed the upper floor quite quickly. It was honestly terrifying to see,” said Shah G., who was in the area at the time. He said he was nearby when he saw plumes of smoke coming from the roof. He ran over and started hitting every buzzer at the entrance. “I ran into the courtyard screaming, ‘There’s a fire, get out! There’s a fire, get out!’” he said. “People who live in condos, you hear these alarms frequently and just assume it’s not a real fire.” One resident told CTV News it was those screams that made him look outside. He saw smoke and realized it was serious. Twenty-eight of the building’s 56 condo units were evacuated. No injuries were reported. Firefighters needed four hours to put out the blaze. Martin Guilbault, a division chief and communications officer with the Montreal fire department, said the fire’s speed was the main challenge. “The big challenge for firefighters yesterday was that the fire was going really rapidly across the attic of the roof,” he said. “So they had to work really fast, and the fire was spreading really fast.”The building’s roof had recently been redone. The top floor was badly damaged and is uninhabitable, while the other floors suffered smoke and water damage. Residents allowed in one at a time The Red Cross assisted one family, while most residents found their own accommodations. On Monday, firefighters escorted residents into their units one at a time to collect small essentials such as laptops and passports. Carole Paris, a resident and the president of the condo board, said it was sad to see the impact on her neighbours. “We want to make sure all the people that are allowed to go, we want to reach them to make sure they know, because it’s the chance they have,” she said. “After that it will be inaccessible, and we don’t know for how long.” The fire department still doesn’t know what caused the fire. The investigation is continuing.
