Fireworks show ends with barge on fire in West Island

Following a brief fireworks show, a barge caught fire off the shores of Pointe Claire on Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day on Montreal's West Island.

A fireworks show on Wednesday night ended with a fire erupting on a barge off the shores of Pointe-Claire on Montreal’s West Island.

The fire began at 10:30 p.m. during the fireworks presentation for St-Jean Baptiste Day and burned for at least an hour.

After the show ended, more fireworks exploded from the boat into the sky.

The fireworks show was operated by remote control, and no one was on the barge at the time, said Pointe-Claire Mayor John Belvedere.

Belvedere said there was no danger to the public.

“They finished the show, and then, yeah, the barge continued to burn,” he said. “Obviously, there’s nothing you could do. The fire department and the services had no access to the boat. It was in the middle of the lake, and there was no danger, so they concluded to just let it burn, and so they did. They let it burn until it went out, and they’ve towed it in to the shore, and they’ve removed it.”

Belvedere said the city switched from setting up the fireworks displays from the shore to using a barge, for safety reasons.

“When it was on the shoreline, depending on the wind, it could blow the ambers and stuff back into the audience, so being out on the lake is much, much safer,” said Belvedere.

Pointe-Claire has a similar Canada Day fireworks show scheduled for Wednesday. Belvedere said safety measures will be in place and that the company that puts on the show has ensured it will go smoothly.

He added that the coast guard and police boats ensure no other personal water vehicles get beyond the perimeter.

“It was an unfortunate incident,” said the mayor. “It happens once in a while. You’re lighting up all these fireworks off of a barge, and the barge was built out of aluminum and wood, and I guess maybe it got too hot, too many fireworks went off too fast, or an ember fell.

“We got an extra bonus. We got to watch a barge burn in the middle of the lake. It created a lot of attention for a while.”