A five-alarm fire tore through a century-old building in Old Montréal early on October 4, 2024. Initial reports focused on two injured people, including one taken to hospital with serious burns; authorities later confirmed that a visiting mother and her seven-year-old daughter had died.
The first calls came before dawn
Emergency services received several 911 calls at about 2:40 a.m. for the building on Notre-Dame Street East near Bonsecours Street. More than 125 firefighters responded, and crews were still working many hours later.
Officials said the fire began in a ground-floor restaurant and spread rapidly through the three-storey structure, which also contained short-term accommodation. Several occupants escaped without physical injury.
The casualty picture changed during the day
Police initially confirmed two injuries and warned that they expected deaths but could not safely establish how many people remained inside. That uncertainty reflected an active fire scene, not an attempt to withhold a known total.
Searchers later recovered Léonor Geraudie, 43, and her daughter Vérane Reynaud Geraudie, seven, both visitors from France. Naming them only after formal identification and family notification respected the process required after a fatal fire.
Police treated the origin as suspicious
The investigation moved to the Montréal police major-crimes section working with arson specialists. “Suspicious” meant investigators had evidence requiring a criminal examination; it did not identify a perpetrator or prove an offence by itself.
The building remained a complex scene where fire damage, witness accounts, surveillance footage and material samples all had to be examined. Public speculation risked contaminating that work and harming people not involved.
Two men were later charged
On October 11, police arrested Juventino Hernandez Pelaez and Justin Fortier-Trahan, who were 18 and 20. Prosecutors charged each with two counts of second-degree murder as well as offences involving arson, bodily harm and danger to life.
Charges are allegations. Both accused were entitled to the presumption of innocence, disclosure of the prosecution case and a trial before any criminal responsibility could be established.
Fire-safety history drew scrutiny
Montréal’s fire chief said a 2023 inspection had identified missing fire and smoke alarm systems, but the recorded deficiencies were corrected by spring 2024. That history was relevant without proving what caused the October fire.
Investigators also had to distinguish building-code compliance from criminal origin. A compliant inspection at one point does not prevent every later failure, while an older deficiency does not automatically explain a new blaze.
The location carried recent trauma
Seven people had died in another Old Montréal building fire in March 2023. The two incidents occurred in different buildings and required separate evidence, but the second fatal blaze renewed concern about short-term rentals, egress and enforcement in older structures.
Heritage character does not reduce an owner’s duty to provide alarms, safe exits and lawful occupancy. Regulators also need resources to verify that ordered corrections remain effective.
The headline captured only the first hours
The original report was accurate to say one injured person had been hospitalized, but the event became a double fatality and criminal case. Updating the body preserves the changing sequence rather than making the early casualty count look final.
The enduring record is that two people escaped with injuries, a mother and child died, and two accused later faced serious charges that remained for the court to decide. Precision honours the victims without converting an active prosecution into a verdict.
