Blaze destroys Dorval apartments

BY VANESSA COMTOIS

A fire ravaged an apartment building at 465 Lepage Ave. in Dorval Sunday evening leaving close to 40 residents homeless. Beginning just after 6 p.m., 150 firefighters were called to the scene. It took approximately five hours to extinguish the flames.

No one was injured but “the building is a total loss,” Dorval’s director of public affairs Colette Gauthier said.

There is no expected date as to when residents will be able to return home. “They have to rebuild all of it,” the city’s fire department division chief Serge Giguere said.

Many residents stayed at a hotel for a couple of nights while a few others were placed in social housing. As of Tuesday, most residents found more permanent arrangements with family and friends.

A neighboring apartment building was also damaged. The residents there were evacuated as well and the building still remains unoccupied. Before residents are allowed back “the owner has to repair (the emergency lighting) and alarm,” Giguere said.

The cause of the fire is not yet known but arson has been ruled out. “For sure the fire started on the roof,” Giguere said. “It’s probably an electrical problem.”

According to Gauthier, an official report on the fire will be established in six to eight weeks.