Blaze consumes St. Laurent condo complex

This man says his 33 years living on Cote Vertu were pretty peaceful  - until now.

"Flames, you couldn't see, black smoke and flames, very scary."

The three alarm  fire this morning in the St. Laurent borough consumed a condo complex under construction at 2175 Cote Vertu near Alexis Nihon.The fire broke out on the roof of the 18-unit, three storey condo development, workers putting tar on one of the two buildings that was practically finished. Steve Hewlett was working at the site.

"It just immediately exploded, the whole building went up in flames almost immediately."

The buildings were reduced to a pile of smoldering, blackened wood and steel. Assistant director of Montreal fire operations Michel Viau.

"When a building is under construction, the fire can spread very, very rapidly, usually in less than 15 minutes they collapse."

The home next door was evacuated as a precaution. No one was injured and no word on the exact cause, the simmering cauldron-container of tar next to the building a likely suspect.