A citizen living in the Rue Saint-Antoine area of Rigaud where a major fire broke out early this morning said she was awakened by a very strong smell of smoke almost 50 minutes before a call was made to 911 to report the blaze.

"My baby is teething and I have to get up about every hour at night because of it. The intense smell of smoke woke me up at around 2.40 a.m.", a witness told Néomédia during a phone interview this morning.

"I said to myself that it must be linked to the forest fires currently raging on the North Shore, but then I wondered if it was my house," she the witness who asked to remain anonymous.

After looking around her home to make sure it wasn't engulfed in flames, the young mother went out into her yard to see if there was a fire nearby.

"I didn't see much but it didn't smell like a forest fire. It was toxic. It was a little before 3 a.m. at the time. I saw smoke, but no flames. My boyfriend who gets up at 3:15 a.m. thought the smoke was from the forest fires and smog," said the witness.

"When he left for work, he saw Séguin Sport in flames and two people trying to move a boat parked nearby. We also heard a big boom not long afterwards," she added.

The witness said she didn't contact the authorities to report the fire when she smelled smoke, but should have.

"I couldn't see anything and wasn't sure if there was a fire going on or not when I went outside. I didn't call, but I should have. At least nobody was hurt and that's what reassures me," she said.

Firefighters were at the scene at noon cleaning up and putting out smouldering embers after the building was demolished.