At 3:30 this morning, a resident of 9 rue Saint-Antoine in Rigaud called 911 to report a fire in progress in her garage. Because the buildings are so close together in this area, the blaze has spread to at least three other buildings, and some 50 firefighters are still battling the flames at the time of writing. 

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Firefighters still on site of massive fire in Rigaud

When firefighters arrived on the scene, they were faced with an imposing wall of fire. The structure was already well engulfed in flames, as evidenced by its bright red color. 

According to our information, the cause of the fire is unknown, but criminal activity has been ruled out. So far, material losses have been high. Among the buildings affected by the blaze was the Séguin Sport dealership, a local institution with a fifty-year history and a large inventory of snowmobiles and ATVs. Fuel was present on site, helping to fuel the force of the blaze. 

At the time of writing, a power outage was affecting the municipality, a decision taken by Operations Manager Guillaume Roy. The intensity of the flames had cut electrical wires that were falling to the ground, emitting sparks and lightning. Guillaume Roy had to call in a temporary withdrawal of his troops to require Hydro-Québec to trip the arteries, which plunged Rigaud into darkness moments later. 

A Hydro-Québec team is currently on site to contain the outage and restore power to unaffected citizens.While the fire spread quickly, others were luckier as firefighters allowed residents to evacuate their vehicles.One of these got his vintage vehicles out of his private garage, which was starting to heat up due to radiation from the neighbor's fire. Another was able to save his locally famous hearse, in the colors of the famous Ghostbusters movie. 

For its part, the City of Rigaud is asking citizens to cooperate by avoiding the fire area.Several streets are closed, including rue Saint-Jean-Baptiste between rue Saint-Pierre and rue Saint-Viateur, and from Saint-Antoine to the railroad tracks.

More than 50 firefighters are still battling the blaze, including those from Saint-Lazare, Coteau-du-Lac, Sainte-Marthe and as far away as Terrasse-Vaudreuil and Pincourt.