Epic 3-hour raw video montage of 4 alarm fire at century-old abandoned Familex and Barsalou factory that stood the test of time but was leveled in only one day on Thursday.
Fire crews responded to 1600 Ave de l'Orimier in the morning at midnight on January 21st 2026 only to observe smoke coming out of a basement fire. Crews setup ground water sources to attempt to extinguish the fire from outside at a frigid -10C and 30kmph winds using a defensive method due to unknown possible dangerous conditions inside the vacant uncared for structure. A second and third alarm was quickly struck while a 4th alarm was eventually called out later in the incident that had a large safety perimeter at the foot of the Jacques Cartier Bridge. The famous bridge and main link between the South Shore cities of Longueuil and others, remained open during the first 5 hours of the intervention but was completely shut down at start of morning rush hour to allow firefighters to install a ladder truck on the closest lane to the fire and to prevent motorists being distracted by the spectacular sight. One day later and the bridge slowly re-opened, first allowing southbound traffic and onto a full reopening the next day.
The boarded up building with few partial openings and strong winds contributed to the long steady progression of the flames throughout the entire structure. By 5h am, about five hours into the incident and at peak intensity, flames could be seen raging out of the roof and billowing meters up along a tall chimney and advertisement sign posts atop the structure. In this video, the timeline starts early into the incident as the first dashcam footage records at 00:30 am midnight thirty on the morning of Jan 21. The following events unfolded during a span of six hours as the last on scene footage of the building ablaze records at 6h am. As soon as sunrise talks of demolition machinery were mentioned on air which lasted the remainder of Thursday. Footage of the aftermath and the building demolished starts at mark 2:20:00 of the footage.
Firefighters from the SIM department struggled with challenges that come with fighting a fire in frigid temperatures like frozen solid hoses requiring the help of several flatbed trucks to transport hose lines stretched with ice inside. The 10-10 code (end of ops) was given at about midnight the next morning Jan 22 making it a total duration of the operations to 24 hours. Nearby trees covered in ice from fallen aerial ladders' water jets survived the blaze and offered an eerie sight amidst the disaster zone. Kubota mini bulldozers worked on breaking ice accumulated on the roadways around the site to free drain access for flowing water. A rarely seen inflatable temporary shelter was setup near PC tables for warming up and crews taking a break for the exhaustive fire battle.
www.the4kguy.com
twitter.com/the4kguy
youtube.com/the4kguy
facebook.com/the4kguy
instagram.com/the4kguy
Facebook Comments