Montreal

Early morning fire guts building in Griffintown

About 80 firefighters were on hand to fight a three-alarm fire in the Griffintown neighbourhood of Montreal that started early Friday morning.

No one was hurt, fire department says

The fire department received a call about the fire around 3:40 a.m. (Kate McKenna/CBC)

A building in Montreal's Griffintown neighbourhood was gutted by fire early Friday morning.

As many as 80 firefighters were on hand to battle the three-alarm blaze in the building bordered by Peel, Ottawa and Young streets.

Benoit Martel, chief of operations for the Montreal fire department, said the two-storey building was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived. A call about the fire came in at 3:41 a.m.

At 5:30 a.m. the fire was still active, with significant amounts of smoke billowing into the air.

At that time, firefighters were in "defensive mode," Martel said, trying to prevent flames from spreading to adjacent buildings.

The first floor of the building was a car wash. The upper floor was likely a business, Martel said.

The first floor of the building was a car wash and the upper floor was likely a business, fire officials said. (Kate McKenna/CBC)

Martel said they don't believe anyone was in the building. The cause has not been determined.