A residential building is engulfed in flames in Sainte-Thérèse

A major fire broke out in a 12-unit residential building on Saturday around 11:30 a.m. on Saint-Jacques Street West in Sainte-Thérèse.

After receiving numerous calls from concerned citizens, the Sainte-Thérèse Fire Department quickly triggered a general alarm which mobilized some sixty firefighters.

Sappers from the Boisbriand, Blainville, Mirabel, Saint-Eustache, Terrebonne and Deux-Montagnes fire stations were also called in to reinforce the staff of the Sainte-Thérèse fire safety service.

“For the moment, we do not know the cause of the fire, said the chief of operations of the Sainte-Thérèse fire safety service Mathieu Lacombe. Our investigators are on their way.”

Mathieu Lacombe, however, indicated that the fire would have originated on the third floor before spreading rapidly. A video showing flames coming from a balcony on the third floor of the residential building was posted on the Caserne Sainte-Thérèse Facebook page.

Flames and smoke were visible to drivers traveling on Highway 640.

“It’s a building that is difficult to access, because of its configuration, and that complicates the work of the firefighters,” said Mathieu Lacombe. […] There was an evacuation. We have no reports to the effect that there are injured or missing people, but we have no confirmation to the contrary either.

Nearly an hour after the start of the intervention, the firefighters had still not brought the fire under control.