Nine homes destroyed by fire in Trois-Rivières
Two buildings completely destroyed by fire at the corners of Sainte-Julie and Monseigneur-Cooke streets,
A major fire completely destroyed two apartment buildings in Trois-Rivières last night.
The blaze broke out around 1:30 a.m. in one of the two buildings with a total of nine apartments at the corner of Sainte-Julie and Monseigneur-Cooke streets.
When the firefighters arrived on the scene, they found that the flames quickly spread to the neighboring building and even affected the structure.
When the firefighters arrived, an aggressive attack was made, but unfortunately the fire grew very large, very quickly. We went up to fifth alarm to be able to have a good strike force. We had the help of our neighbors in Bécancour and Saint-Étienne, explains Mathieu Ouellette, chief of operations at the Fire Safety and Civil Security Department at the City of Trois-Rivières.
Fortunately no one was injured. Residents of the nine homes were evacuated and cared for by the Red Cross.
A firefighter was transported by ambulance to treat heat stroke.
The cause of the fire has yet to be determined and an investigation is ongoing. According to witnesses, explosions occurred.
At first I heard booms. I thought it was fireworks, but on going out I saw that the fire was catching on the balconies of the building next door. We immediately called the fire department and we went around to evacuate everyone, says a neighbor who lives in the building across the street.
