Firefighters respond to a five-alarm fire at Saint-Paul Catholic Church, a designated heritage site, in Montreal on Monday.Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press
A fire has destroyed a historic former church in southwestern Montreal and the flames spread to an adjacent seniors home.
The fire broke out around 1:40 a.m. in the former Saint-Paul Church in the city’s Sud-Ouest borough.
No one was inside the building when it caught fire but officials evacuated 148 people from the nearby area as a precaution.
Among the evacuees were 73 people in the church’s former rectory, which had been converted into a seniors residence.
Firefighters said the flames spread to the seniors residence after it was evacuated.
The church was built between 1910-11 and is part of a heritage site comprised of a few buildings in the area.
Officials are investigating the cause of the fire.