Apartment fire in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve leaves families homeless
Several families are lucky to be alive and unharmed this morning, after an overnight fire in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.
The fire started in a shed behind an apartment building, located near the corner of Ontario Street East and Desjardins Avenue.
The flames spread from the shed to the building, according to Benoit Brouillard, chief of operations with the Montreal fire department.
Brouillard said none of the apartments had working smoke alarms.
Lucie Toussaint lives next door.
"I heard a woman screaming so I went to look out my kitchen window and saw a wall of red," she said.
Brouillard said six families were evacuated from the building. He said the damage was so extensive that only two of those families will be able to return home.
