A father and his 5-year-old son are fighting for their lives following a fire which broke out a few hours before New Year’s Day, Sunday, in a home in Hampstead, on the island of Montreal.
The flames started around 10 p.m. in a block of Chemin de la Côte-Saint-Luc with around forty homes which were all evacuated by firefighters, explained Marie-Ève Beausoleil, head of operations for the Fire Safety Service. of Montreal (SIM).
Given the scale of the task, a third alarm had to be triggered, bringing around 90 firefighters to intervene on the scene.
A 36-year-old man and his 5-year-old son were extricated from the flames and treated for smoke inhalation. They were transported to hospital in critical condition, reported the SIM, Urgences-Santé and the Montreal police.
The blaze was, after all, confined to a single apartment, although the building was damaged by smoke and the intervention of firefighters.
The cause of the disaster is believed to be accidental, the Montreal Police Department said early Monday morning.