Six missing in Old Montreal fire
As many as six people are missing following the fire in Old Montreal this week, and the remains of the building are still too unstable to search. CTV talked to a relative of one of the missing people.
As many as six people are missing following the fire in Old Montreal this week, and the remains of the building are still too unstable to search. CTV talked to a relative of one of the missing people.
shawn 10:55 on 2023-03-18 Permalink
“..they couldn’t get out because they were no windows in the room”: that would violate our building code, as I understand.
shawn 11:01 on 2023-03-18 Permalink
But then when you look at the place, there’s lots of windows. It’s more window than wall. Unless the owners were sticking people in the middle of this narrow wedge shaped building, which seems unlikely.
MarcG 11:18 on 2023-03-18 Permalink
There are some photos of the interior here, and going by the looks of that “bathroom” you can assume that a lot of other non-standard design choices were made. There were 15 people in the building and 4 listed apartments.
Kate 11:23 on 2023-03-18 Permalink
I expected a classier renovation job in a building like that. A toilet next to a fridge?
shawn 12:09 on 2023-03-18 Permalink
Oh yes look at that: crammed in, a disaster waiting to happen. I’m sure the vultures at AirBnB Inc. won’t be liable, sure they’ve taken care of that.
Ephraim 12:19 on 2023-03-18 Permalink
Actually, if the owners were doing AirBnB and didn’t have commercial insurance, the Insurance company can wiggle out of paying it, claiming it was commercial activity and not covered. Worse, if they had a residential mortgage, they violated the mortgage, so they bank can call the mortgage. Or the worst of all scenarios, they have to pay to rebuild with no insurance money while still having to pay a mortgage on a non-existent property. Ah, the stupidity of it all.
shawn 12:26 on 2023-03-18 Permalink
It’s just such a scam. Sorry, I just hate AirBnB.
walkerp 16:34 on 2023-03-18 Permalink
Yep, Airbnb is definitely a factor here.
shawn 17:01 on 2023-03-18 Permalink
La Presse now confirming that the building owner is lawyer ****** , who owns a lot of other properties.
shawn 17:08 on 2023-03-18 Permalink
Actually Le Devoir has more info. *****
Kate 19:32 on 2023-03-18 Permalink
The Journal had a couple of paragraphs on him already at the end of this piece on Thursday, but I hesitated to name him because angry lawyers can cause a world of hurt, and I don’t have a budget for that. So please forgive me for eliding your comments, shawn.
There are a few names I don’t want mentioned here because I don’t want to turn up in Google searches.
shawn 20:20 on 2023-03-18 Permalink
Ah, right. Sorry.