[PHOTOS] Montreal: major fire in two residential buildings

Several families find themselves on the street, after a fire in two residential buildings in the boroughs of Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie and Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, in Montreal, very early Monday.

The first fire broke out around 2 a.m. on the 2nd floor of a five-unit building on avenue de Gaspé, near rue de Bellechasse.

The occupants of the building were evacuated by the hundred firefighters from the Montreal Fire Department (SIM) who were mobilized to fight the flames of the blaze.

The Red Cross was called on the spot and at least two families are to be relocated because of the water damage caused by the perforations, said a spokeswoman for the SIM.

Less than an hour after the first fire, the SIM was alerted to another fire, of major magnitude, this one, which affected a three-storey residential building in the Mercier district.

The fire broke out in an apartment on the top floor of the building located on Sherbrooke Street East, near Curatteau Street, said the SIM.

Residents were evacuated and no one was injured, while the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) made buses available to them, while waiting for the Red Cross.