Fire in Old Montreal: Public safety minister to give update Saturday after two bodies recovered

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Police launched a criminal investigation Friday into a fire in an Old Montreal building that claimed two lives. The building’s owner is also the proprietor of a nearby structure that burned down just last year, killing seven people.

Police confirmed Friday evening two bodies were discovered, but didn’t confirm the identities of the victims. But some media reports say the victims were two French nationals — a mother and her 7-year-old daughter.

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Police say a man is in critical condition as a result of injuries sustained in the blaze.

Quebec Public Safety Minister François Bonnardel is set to address media at 1:45 p.m. Saturday.

The fire broke out Friday morning between 2 and 3 a.m. in a century-old building at Notre-Dame St. and Bonsecours St., which houses a 20-room hostel. Though the cause of the fire is unknown, police are considering it to be suspicious.

Security footage obtained by the CBC shows a person dressed all in black breaking into the building shortly after 2:30 a.m. Friday.

At its peak, more than 120 firefighters battled the blaze, while the smoke led Montreal public health to warn citizens about poor air quality in parts of the city. Firefighting operations continued well into the evening Friday.

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Most firefighters had left the area by Saturday morning, though police remain and the surrounding the site remains closed. While curious onlookers had lined up outside the barricades well into the evening Friday, the area was calm just over a day after the blaze.

There is no access to Notre-Dame St. between Berri and Gosford Sts., or to Bonsecours St. between Champ-de-Mars and St-Paul Sts.

A police officer confirmed to The Gazette residents are being allowed back into the cordoned-off streets with a proof of identity. Most buildings surrounding the site of the fire are still inaccessible.

The building was the subject of numerous complaints to the fire department, with a 2020 inspection finding a number of code violations. The Montreal fire department says those violations had been corrected at the time of the most recent inspection, in 2023.

The building is owned by Émile Benamor, who also owns the building on Place d’Youville where, in March 2023, a fire claimed seven lives and left nine injured. The results of the investigation into that fire are yet to be made public.

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“People died (in the last fire) and we took that very seriously, and everybody was affected,” Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante told reporters Friday afternoon. “We’re going to get all the answers once the SIM, the firefighters can evaluate every detail.”

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Fire inspection records obtained by The Gazette through access-to-information last year show the building was the result of a 2020 complaint to the fire department. The complaint noted the two floors of the building had been turned into a rooming house.

The complaint resulted in an inspection Sept. 23 of that year, the records show.

Inspectors noted 12 code violations, including:

• Requirements to have functioning smoke alarms that were compliant with standards.
• Having smoke detectors permanently connected to an electrical circuit “in each sleeping area that is not part of a dwelling unit.”
• Installing “a fire alarm system in accordance with the requirements in effect at the time of the conversion.”
• Installing a sprinkler system.
• Installing portable fire extinguishers in the building.
• Installing sealed fire separations to isolate living suites, common corridors, interior exits and other areas.
• Installing emergency lighting and signs marked “exit.”

The notices were sent to the building’s owner, Benamor, the records state.

A followup inspection was carried out on March 29, 2023, less than two weeks after the fatal fire at Benamor’s Place D’Youville building. The file was closed following an evacuation exercise April 14, 2023.

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The Ville-Marie borough was aware the top two floors of the building were short-term rentals and had given its approval, according to the records that were obtained by The Gazette through an access-to-information request in 2023.

The Gazette has been unable to reach Benamor, with a receptionist at his law office directing a request for comment to his lawyer. The lawyer did not respond to a call from The Gazette on Friday afternoon. Government records list the owners of the company that operates the hostel as Neir Abissidan and Robert Sebbag.

This is a developing story. More to come.

La Presse Canadienne and The Gazette’s Jacob Serebrin, Leora Schertzer and Linda Gyulai contributed to this report

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