Fire and power outage in the Limoilou district

Residents of an apartment building in the Limoilou district of Quebec had to be evacuated in the cold on Saturday morning after the outbreak of a fire which was quickly brought under control.

Around 7:15 a.m., firefighters from the Quebec City fire department were called to 280, rue des Bouleaux, at the intersection of 4^e Avenue.

According to initial information, the blaze started in the electrical box at the main entrance of the apartment building.

It was the presence of smoke that would have alerted the tenants, who were forced to leave the building and deal with cold temperatures, as were the firefighters.

With the wind chill, the mercury could drop to -25 degrees, according to Environment Canada. No one was injured during the intervention.

The fire, which required a second alarm to be sounded, caused a power outage in the area.

At the height of the outage, around 7:45 a.m., 4,000 Hydro-Québec customers were without electricity. Affected residents had power restored by mid-morning.