(Montreal) Christmas masses at the Notre-Dame basilica, in Old Montreal, can take place as planned starting Sunday evening.
A fire broke out in a construction zone overnight caused more fear than harm.
The Montreal City Police Service (SPVM) no longer speaks of an “arson”, but of a fire of electrical origin.
Emergency services were alerted Sunday morning, around 2:30 a.m., during a 911 call regarding a fire alarm.
The firefighters were already on site, at the intersection of Notre-Dame and Saint-Sulpice streets, when the police arrived.
The flames started in scaffolding on a construction site of the building.
“The firefighters found traces of accelerant,” said the SPVM at the start of the intervention, while specifying that there was “no damage to the building.”
The place is very popular and popular with tourists, but also with homeless people who are numerous in the area.
“Investigators from the SPVM Arson Unit went to the scene early in the morning. They carried out an assessment of the scene and they agreed that it was not a fire of a criminal nature, but of an electrical nature,” said agent Véronique Dubuc, spokesperson for the SPVM in a update on this event.
Historic place
The Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal is classified as a national historic site of Canada. Its construction dates back to the 1820s.
It has been the subject of restoration work since 2020.
The church was elevated to the rank of minor basilica in 1982 by Pope John Paul II, who visited it in September 1984.
“On many occasions, thousands of people have gathered inside or on its square to pay their last respects to important personalities; let’s think of Maurice Richard or Pierre Trudeau in 2000. She also experienced more joyful and sumptuous times with the marriage of Céline Dion and René Angélil or that, a little more discreet, of the hockey player Mario Lemieux”, mentions in particular her file in the directory of cultural heritage of Quebec.