Fire destroys historic Montreal building famed for Canada's 1st film screening in 1896

A major fire today in Montreal's Chinatown has gutteda historicbuilding famed for hostingthe first film screening in Canada.

Thefour-storeyRobillardBuilding at 974 St-LaurentBlvd. at the corner ofVigerStreet West dates to the late 1800s and wasvacant at the time of Thursday's fire.

Montreal police are now investigating the cause of the fire, whichwas reported at 11:19 a.m. ET Thursday.

• FACEBOOK LIVE: Watch the Chinatown fire burn from CBC's rooftop camera

More than 50 vehicles and 120 firefighters responded to the five-alarm fire.

One witness, Robert Dcarie, said the smoke and heat fromthe fire were intense.

"The smoke was as high as 100 metres, and at one point you could feel the heat," he said.

As of 3:30 p.m., Montreal Fire Department Chief Yvon Daunais said the fire was not considered under control because itwas still burning in an adjacent three-storeybuilding located at 970 St-Laurent Blvd.

He said 80 firefighterswere still on-site andthe following streets were closed around the scene:

• St-Laurent Boulevard
• Clark Street
• Viger Street
• De la Gauchetire Street

Daunais saidthe facade of the Robillard Building was too unstable to save, andheavy equipment had to becalled in to demolish it.

'Important piece' of Montreal history

According to the Centre d'histoire de Montreal,the first indoor motion-pictureprojection in Montreal was held atthe building on June 27, 1896.

The event was the first of its kind in Canada and predated the first film screening in the United States by two days, according to the centre.

"The building was a very important piece of 19th-century history," said DinuBumbaru, policy director of Heritage Montreal.

• Montreal'sRobillardBuilding: From film landmark to neglect and flames

Fire sparks political reaction

The Opposition Projet Montral condemned what it said is the all too frequent destruction of historic buildings in Montreal through neglect and fire.

ProjetMontralsaid Thursday's fire was the fifth to affect a heritage building this year.

"The Robillard Building was abandoned for a long time before it finally succumbed to flames where was the City of Montreal this whole time?" the party's heritage critic, Anne-Marie Sigouin, said in a news release.

Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre responded to questions about the fire from Jerusalem, where he is travelling with a delegation.

"It is always painful to see part of our heritage that goes like this," he said. "We want to protect our heritage.It's part of the signature of Montreal."

Coderre said he would wait for the results of the investigation before commenting further.

In a news release on Thursday, the City of Montreal revealed the building had beeninspected in 2014 by the Borough ofVille-Marie. After the visit, the building started to receive some repairs, butasbestoswas discovered and all work had tostop.

A city official told CBC Montreal that the Robillard Building was of "heritage interest" but did not have heritage building status.

That means the building has recognized heritage qualities, such as its architecture, but is not classified as a heritage building under municipal, provincial and federal statutes, the official said.