Fires caused by lightning are more frequent than we think, but they rarely take on as large a scale as in Laval on Tuesday, where two homes were completely destroyed.
“It was the total shock. We didn’t know what to do,” said Arthur Harout Tchakrian, who was still a little shaken by chance. Lucky in their bad luck, the Tchakrians had just gone out with their two young children in the early evening, when lightning struck the electric pole a few meters from their home.
The flames then quickly stormed the family home. The adjascent house is also a total loss. A total of eight residences in the Sydney Street area were affected to varying degrees by the blaze.
Shots fired at a dancers bar
A 25-year-old man who was trying to escape from police officers wanted to make a diversion by opening fire in the direction of the dancers’ bar Les Déesses, in Laval, on the night of Saturday to Sunday.
Laval Police was contacted at approximately 2:50 a.m., after two men, one 25 years old and another 26 years old, were seen in possession of a firearm. Upon arrival at the scene, the police located the first suspect and attempted to intercept him.
The young man then fled. While trying to sow the police, he pulled out his gun and fired a few shots, reaching the outside of the dancers’ bar. A few minutes later, the man was caught by the police and subdued with an electric pulse pistol (Taser).
“He was taken to a hospital to check for vital signs and was discharged a few hours later. He was then taken to a detention centre to be interrogated,” said Geneviève Major, lieutenant in charge of public affairs at the Laval Police Dept.
The other suspect, the 26-year-old, was interrogated by the police but was not arrested. A security perimeter was erected so that investigators could determine the circumstances of the event.
Fire in an apartment building
A fire broke out in a five-storey residential building late Saturday afternoon in the Vimont district of Laval.
Emergency services were called to a 52-unit building on Le Royer Street at around 4:50 p.m.
About 25 firefighters were needed to fight the blaze, which was brought under control around 5:40 p.m. All tenants in the building were evacuated and no one was injured.
The fire was reportedly caused by a stove that remained on. The damage is estimated at approximately $50,000.
