Busy night for Montreal firefighters and police as 6 fires burned

Six fires, three of which police say were arson, burned on the island of Montreal overnight Thursday.

Firefighters say they were called to put out a second-alarm fire at an abandoned one-storey house in Lachine around 12:30 a.m. The flames spread to a neighbouring house, but no one was hurt. The investigation was transferred to Montreal police, who say the fire was suspicious.

Police say they received a call around 1:30 a.m. signalling three vehicles were on fire in front of a house on Alexis-Nihon Boulevard in the Saint-Laurent borough. When firefighters arrived, flames were starting to spread to a fourth vehicle and the front of the house. The fires were put out and no one was hurt, though firefighters haven't confirmed the exact cause of the fires.

Around 2:40 a.m., police were called to a home on Hanover Road in the Town of Mount-Royal, where someone broke a window and threw in a Molotov cocktail. There were people in the house, which was slightly damaged, but they were not injured.

About 20 minutes later, firefighters called police back to Saint-Laurent where a reception hall on Des Nations Street was hit with a Molotov cocktail. Damages to the building were minor.

No arrests were made in connection with the three arsons, and no one was injured.

Two warehouses in eastern Montreal also caught fire, but neither firefighters nor police believe they were criminal in nature. Those fires were still active as of 7:30 a.m.

"Investigators will be busy today," said Matthew Griffith, section chief of the Montreal fire department.