Old Montreal building flagged for violations prior to fire that killed 7 people | CBC News

The Old Montreal building that erupted in flames, leaving seven people dead last March, was flagged repeatedly for fire code violations in the years leading up to the incident.

Documents obtained by CBC News under access-to-information legislation show the owner, Emile Benamor, had a history of violations starting in 2009, shortly after he bought the historic greystone located at the intersection of Place d’Youville and Saint-Nicolas. 

Problems at the persisted building over the next decade, according to inspection reports by the Service de sécurité incendie de Montréal.

Geneviève Tremblay, a fire inspector who visited in February 2019, found that the fire alarm was not up to code, and not loud enough to ensure tenants could hear it inside their units. 

Those problems had not been addressed when Tremblay returned to do a follow-up in October 2020. Benamor did not show up for the re-inspection.

In May 2018, another inspector found 10 violations during a visit to the building, including the lack of a working fire alarm, no clear signage for the emergency exits and a missing smoke detector in the stairway. 

The problems had not been addressed when the inspector returned in September 2018. 

It’s unclear from the documents if those problems or others listed in the reports were ever addressed.

Inspectors had trouble meeting Benamor on several occasions.

In 2019, for instance, an inspector tried to meet with Benamor but instead was only able to speak with his secretary.

Benamor did not immediately return a request for comment through his lawyer, Alexandre Bergevin.

The city of Montreal also did not return a request for comment. The last recorded inspection of the building appears to have been in 2019, though officials appear to have followed up on the case file in 2021 and 2022. 

Former tenants and guests at the building have told CBC they had safety concerns. One said it felt like “a fire trap.” 

The building housed long-term and short-term rentals, including Airbnbs, which are prohibited in this area of Old Montreal under a bylaw adopted in 2018. One of the units had no windows. 

(None of the inspections obtained by CBC mentioned a windowless apartment.)

Airbnb has since said it would remove all Quebec listings that have not been authorized by the provincial government.

The Quebec government has ordered a public inquiry into the fire. 

Randy Sears, the father of one of the victims, has applied to launch a class-action lawsuit against the building’s owner, the operators of the short-term rental units and Airbnb.

Sears claims there was a lack of safety equipment in the building and the units did not meet municipal safety standards. His claims have not been tested in court.