Montreal's vacant buildings keep burning down despite efforts to quell the fires

Just before dawn on March 23 as an early spring snowstorm blanketed the city, an old greystone building on St-Dominique Street began to burn.

Investigators don't yet know what caused the fire, but it was cold that night and squatters had been known to use the building, which had been boarded up for nearly two decades. 

Samuel Lu, a neighbour, recalled waking up that morning to noise and chaos. He saw the flames consuming the building and dozens of firefighters battling the blaze. 

"It was scary," said Lu, who had to quickly usher his seven-year-old daughter and elderly father to safety. "It was surreal."

Though Lu said it was shocking to see the building burn and then collapse into rubble, it was not a surprise. The building was not well maintained, said Lu, who frequently noticed trespassers on the building's fire escape and roof.

The fire at the building on St-Dominique Street is part of a larger problem in Montreal. 

Around 800 buildings sit derelict across the city, municipal officials estimate. A CBC News analysis found these buildings are at greater risk of catching fire, posing a danger to firefighters and threatening the city's built heritage. 

Despite ongoing efforts by the city to force building owners to take better care of vacant properties, these buildings continue to burn. 

In the past five weeks alone, three vacant buildings caught fire in Montreal. One of them was an abandoned school. The other two, the building on St-Dominique Street and a building at the corner of Parc Avenue and Sherbrooke Street, were among some of the city's oldest. 

Their destruction concerns advocates who fear fire and neglect have replaced demolition as the most pressing threat to Montreal's heritage.

"These buildings have value individually," said Dinu Bumbaru, the policy director for Heritage Montreal, "but they also shape the city in terms of neighbourhood views. They shape the cityscape."

Last fall, the City of Montreal passed a bylaw aimed at improving the upkeep of vacant buildings. 

The new rules require property owners to maintain a minimum temperature of 10 C inside their buildings and secure entry points. Owners who do not comply will be subject to fines that could climb as high as $250,000 for neglectful heritage building owners.

They'll also have to register their vacant buildings with the city every year.