Early morning fire guts building in Griffintown

A building in Montreal'sGriffintown neighbourhood was gutted by fire early Friday morning.

As many as 80 firefighters were on hand to battle the three-alarm blaze in the building bordered by Peel, Ottawa and Young streets.

Benoit Martel, chief of operations for the Montreal fire department, said the two-storey buildingwas engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived. A call about the fire came in at 3:41 a.m.

At 5:30 a.m. the fire was still active, with significant amounts of smoke billowing into the air.

At thattime, firefighters were in "defensive mode," Martel said, trying to prevent flames from spreading toadjacent buildings.

The first floor of the building was a car wash. The upper floor was likely a business, Martelsaid.

Martel said they don't believe anyone was in the building. The cause has not been determined.