Montreal public health issues air-quality alert after fire at problem-plagued scrapyard

Montreal’s public health department urged people with asthma and other respiratory ailments to take extra precautions after a fire in an east-end scrapyard sent plumes of smoke high into the atmosphere since early Thursday morning.

Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at 5:20 a.m. at the American Iron & Metal (AIM) property in Montréal-Est. Although the fire stopped burning at 12:45 p.m., particulate matter continued to float in the air for hours afterward.

“While the entire population is at risk, some people are more vulnerable,” public health authorities cautioned in a statement on Facebook.

“Asthma and heart disease can worsen symptoms like shortness of breath and chest pain. People concerned about their health or the health of a loved one can contact Info-Santé by dialling 811. For any medical emergency, dial 911.”

Meanwhile, real-time data from the IQAir website showed that at 11 a.m., the air quality index spiked to 102 at the Chateauneuf station close to Montréal-Est. By Thursday afternoon, however, the air quality had improved considerably.

The IQAir system ranks air quality as follows: 0-50 is good, 51-100 is average, 101-150 is unhealthy for sensitive groups, 151-200 is bad for health, 201-300 is extremely bad for health, and anything above 301 is considered dangerous.

Screenshot of the IQAir website showing the air-quality ranking on Thursday morning downwind of the scrapyard fire.

To put those numbers in context, in July 2025 — as forest fires raged in northern Quebec — the IQAir index in Montreal’s Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district soared to as high as 236, ranking as extremely bad for health.

On Thursday afternoon, Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon posted a statement on social media platform X saying he had been informed by authorities that no toxic particles had been detected in the air in the hours after the fire. The Public Health Department was not immediately available to comment on the PQ leader’s assertion.

Earlier in the day, the city of Montreal announced it had suspended AIM’s permit, asserting the company had consistently emitted into the atmosphere higher-than-permitted levels of iron, arsenic and PCBs, a class of toxic industrial chemicals.

Municipal regulations require the company to capture toxic particulate matter, but the city noted the company had failed to do so despite repeated warnings.

“In the summer of 2024, the city of Montreal reported significant emissions of pollutants from AIM — for example, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins and furans and heavy metals,” the Public Health Department said in a statement.

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