Arson squad investigating fires at Montreal restaurant, apartment

Montreal police arson investigators are looking into two fires that appear to have been criminally set.

The first fire started around 11 p.m. Monday at a restaurant at the corner of Lapointe Boulevard and Hochelaga Street in the Mercier—Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough.

Const. Raphael Bergeron said two men wearing dark clothes were seen leaving the restaurant in a white car soon after the flames broke out.

Firefighters found traces of accelerant at the scene of the fire, Bergeron said. The restaurant was badly damaged.

A woman was taken to hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.

Then, around 1:30 a.m. another fire broke out at a quadruplex on Nice Street in Saint-Leonard.

The fire started in a unit on the ground floor of the building. Soon after, a car belonging to one of the unit's occupants was also set on fire, Bergeron said.

Traces of accelerant were discovered at the scene of that fire as well.

No one was hurt but 10 people were forced from their homes.

There are no suspects.

Bergeron said for the time being, police are looking into the events as separate incidents but are trying to determine if they are linked.