Day 1

Owners

• Secure your building (barricade).

• Notify your employer of the fire.

• Notify your children’s schools or daycare centers of the fire.

• Notify your mortgage lender.

• Ask for a copy of the fire report (see page 12).

• Notify public utilities (Bell, Hydro-Québec, Vidéotron, Gaz Métro, alarm company, etc.)

• Ask Canada Post to hold your mail.

• Notify governmental services.

• If you have been authorized to return to your home, take photos of the property and your belongings for your insurance claim.  

You become responsible for your building once the firemen leave the scene. You must then protect your property and ensure that it is safe.

If your home has become uninhabitable, you should store your undamaged goods with friends, neighbours or relatives or with a specialized storage company.

You must also shut off the building’s indoor main water valve, and call your borough or city’s public works department (single number for Montréal citizens: 311). Access to your building may be prohibited by firefighters until the investigation of the cause and circumstances of the fire is completed. 

Tenants

• Notify your employer of the fire.

• Notify your children’s schools or daycare centers of the fire.

• Notify your financial institution.

• Notify public utilities.(Bell, Vidéotron, Hydro-Québec, Gaz Métro, alarm company, etc.)

• Ask Canada Post to hold your mail.

• Notify governmental services.

• If you have been authorized to return to your home, take photos of the property and your belongings for your insurance claim.

Several insurance policies cover food and lodging expenses and can even offer cash advances. Check with your insurer.

If you don’t have insurance, you may contact your local employment center since special benefits to cover the costs of unforeseen expenses related to a fire can be paid out by the Ministère de l’Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale.