MONTREAL — A mother and her seven-year-old daughter from France were killed in a fire that ravaged a century-old building in Old Montreal early Friday morning – a blaze that major crimes detectives and the arson squad are investigating as “suspicious.”
Montreal police insp. David Shane identified the victims as 43-year-old Léonor Geraudie and seven-year-old Vérane Reynaud Geraudie at a Saturday afternoon news conference held a block away from the site of the blaze.
He offered no details about the victims besides their names.
“We’d like to express our most sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of these victims,” said Shane.
The other 23 people believed to be in the building when the fire broke out all made it out, with one person remaining in hospital for non-life-threatening injuries, Shane said.
“For the moment, there is no indication of additional victims,” the inspector said.
Friday's fire started just before 2:40 a.m. on the ground floor, which housed a restaurant and wine bar called Loam, and quickly spread to the upper floors that were rented out to a third-party operating a 19-room hostel called Le 402.
City property records show the building at 400 Notre-Dame Street East was built in 1923 and belongs to Emile Benamor, the same owner of a heritage building nearby on Place D'Youville that went up in flames in March 2023 and killed seven people.
Multiple lawsuits were filed in the aftermath of the Place D'Youville fire, and a coroner’s inquest is on hold until the conclusion of the police investigation and any potential criminal trials.
But while the fire at the Notre-Dame building is now considered under control, much remains unclear.
Earlier on Saturday, the province’s security minister François Bonnardel told reporters in Montreal that his office was in talks with the coroner to find ways of expediting inquests into both fires.
“We will see how we can combine these two sad events, these two tragedies in a single inquest so that we can accelerate the process,” said Bonnardel.
When asked to respond to allegations and media reports about the possible involvement of organized crime groups and speculations of extortion, Bonnardel said it was “premature” to comment.
“It’s too early to say if it’s criminal,” the minister said.
City fire department chief Martin Guilbault told reporters that inspectors found infractions during a visit to the Notre-Dame building in 2023 – including the absence of fire and smoke alarm systems – but said the issues were corrected by spring 2024.
Guilbault said the building that caught alight did not have sprinklers but was not required to.
Following the fire, inspectors visited other properties belonging to Benamor on Friday and determined that they were all up to code except for a building adjacent to the one where the fire started, albeit for a minor infraction.
Robert Beauchamp, a volunteer communications officer for the Quebec division of the Canadian Red Cross, said roughly 40 people were evacuated from the building and surrounding area.
“We took 16 people into our care from 400 Notre-Dame Street East, where there was the fire, and 22 families … from the other address right beside (430 Notre-Dame Street East),” he said in an interview.
Montreal fire department spokesperson George Bele said firefighters got the most recent blaze under control between 2 and 3 a.m. Saturday morning, 24 hours after it first broke out.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 5, 2024.
Joe Bongiorno, The Canadian Press