FREDERIC SERRE
The 1510 West

Montreal Police arson investigators are probing a suspicious fire early Sunday morning that caused considerable damage to an auto-repair garage in Île Bizard, as well as destroying a parked car.

Police and firefighters responded to a 911 call shortly before 3 a.m. about flames engulfing a car near the intersection of Paiement and Martel streets. By the time they arrived, the fire had spread to the garage building.

An incendiary object was found at the scene, “which indicates to us that it was a criminal fire,” said police spokesman Jean-Pierre Braban. “It’s for that reason that the investigation has been passed on to the arson squad.”

The fire is the ninth case of arson reported to police on the West Island in the past two weeks.