Overview

• The blaze broke out around 5:10 a.m. Monday in the basement of a 10‑storey building at 230 rue André Philip and was extinguished near 7:00 a.m.
• Authorities report two men and two women were found dead in the cellar, with formal identification and forensic determinations pending.
• Seventy‑eight firefighters with 34 vehicles and four SAMU crews contained the fire to the basement, and roughly 10 to 12 residents were assessed by emergency teams.
• The city opened the Mazenod gymnasium for those affected and set up a medico‑psychological support unit, while most residents were told to shelter in place.
• Officials say the cellar had been adapted and likely squatted, the building belongs to a social landlord, and investigators from the prosecutor’s office and forensic police are working to establish the exact cause.