1 person missing after blast ignites major blaze at fuel distributor north of Montreal | CBC News

At least one person is missing after a major fire at a fuel distributor in a small town north of Montreal on Thursday.

Sûreté du Québec spokesperson Éloïse Cossette said people called 911 around 11:30 a.m. to report an explosion at a business on Rivière-Nord Lane in Saint-Roch-de-L’Achigan, Que. 

Firefighters rushed to the scene, Cossette said, and police established a perimeter one kilometre around the fire, concerned that a larger explosion could occur because of the presence of other flammable materials on site.

Police said one person is missing and three others may have been in the vicinity of the explosion. Their status is currently unknown. 

Cossette said the business sold propane and other fuels for heating. 

The address corresponds to a Propane Lafortune outlet, a family-run business that distributes propane and other fuels including heating oil. A company representative, reached at the company’s Mascouche outlet, one of four they operate in Quebec, declined an interview request.

The SQ said in a tweet officers were evacuating nearby residences.

A spokesperson for the Services Préhospitaliers Laurentides-Lanaudière (SPLL), the ambulance service for the region, said at 1 p.m. its ambulances were unable to approach the fire because it was too dangerous. 

Images on social media showed flames and a plume of black smoke rising into the sky above the business.

The Montcalm regional county municipality — the municipal authority for the area — said on social media that its fire department was on the scene of a “major fire.” 

“We ask you to avoid the area to allow our teams to work more efficiently,” the municipality said in a Facebook post.

Quebec Public Security Minister François Bonnardel said on Twitter he was aware of the explosion and his thoughts were with the workers.