Soviets Delay Firemen, and Montreal Consulate Burns

A small fire at the Soviet Consulate here erupted into an inferno that gutted the building Wednesday when Soviet officials refused for 15 minutes to allow firefighters to go inside.

A fire department spokesman said the blaze was not reported until neighbors who saw flames and smoke gushing from the windows called in an alarm. When firefighters arrived, Soviet officials were trying desperately to put out the fire with axes, garden hoses and buckets of snow from the street.

The spokesman said that suspicious Soviet consular officials held his men up for 15 minutes before permitting them to enter the three-story stone-and-wood building in downtown Montreal.

When firefighters finally were allowed to go in, the blaze--which officials believe started in a basement electrical box--had spread throughout the building.

District Fire Chief Yvon Bineau said 10 Soviet officials inside ignored firefighters who told them to get out of the building. But they somehow escaped from the fenced compound without being noticed.

Bineau said the building might have been saved if the Soviets had reported the blaze or allowed firefighters to enter earlier.

“We tried to get inside,” Bineau said. “The security guards pushed us out. . . . We had big trouble.

“Probably if we had gained 15 or 20 minutes, it would have remained a small fire. But when we got inside, it was major.”

Soviet guards accompanied the firefighters inside and refused them free access to all the rooms, Bineau said, prompting him to order his men out after 50 minutes.