The Bon Pasteur Chapel on Sherbrooke Street East in Montreal caught fire late Thursday afternoon.
The Montreal Fire Department (SIM) received a call at around 4:30 p.m. regarding smoke coming from the building.
The fire, which started from the attic, spread quickly, forcing a fifth alarm to be sounded and 150 firefighters deployed, said Robert Rousseau, department head at SIM.
By 7 p.m., the flames were still not under control.
One firefighter was injured but refused ambulance transport, Mr Rousseau said, but said no other person was injured.
“It is still too early to appreciate the damage suffered by the precious historic building, but there are no fatalities or injuries,” Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante tweeted, thanking the SIM teams.
A major fire broke out at the historic Bon-Pasteur Chapel at the intersection of Sherbrooke and Saint-Dominique streets in downtown Montreal. Please avoid the area.
It’s still too early to see the damage the precious asset has suffered…
— Valerie Plante (@Val_Plante) May 25, 2023
It should also be noted that the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) has been called in to ensure traffic around the security perimeter, said Jeanne Drouin, spokeswoman for the SPVM.
The historic building housed the offices of Héritage Montréal and a performance hall.
“We work at Heritage Montreal. We work every day with such files, buildings that burn down. Then it’s really an extraordinary feeling, a tragedy, to see our building burn down. That’s all we know at the moment and we can’t wait to find out what happened,” said a Heritage Montreal employee.
According to TVA Nouvelles, a show was to take place tonight at the Bon Pasteur Chapel.
“We could smell the burning wood,” said a woman who was part of the choir scheduled to perform at the chapel. The latter also mentioned that about thirty people had been evacuated.
“We should give the concert […] All of the music gear is inside, even our personal belongings,” she said.