(Montreal) Montreal police had to open another arson investigation on Monday after a criminal set fire to an automobile in the borough of Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, in the east of the city.

The accident caused no injuries.

Around 1:15 a.m., a telephone call made to the 911 emergency center announced that a fire had started in the sport utility vehicle (SUV) parked in a private entrance located near the intersection of Rosemont and Langelier boulevards, close to the Repos Saint-François d’Assise cemetery.

It was police officers from the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) and a citizen who managed to control the flames. The fire still caused heavy damage to the SUV, but residential buildings were spared.

A suspect was seen fleeing the scene shortly after the fire was started; by the middle of the night, no arrests could be made, however.

The carcass of the vehicle was to be towed Monday so that investigators from the SPVM arson squad could examine it.

This attack is in addition to a long series of arson attacks on vehicles in recent months on the island of Montreal.

In the past few days, the fire was lit in a vehicle parked in a residential entrance on Jacques-Chan Street in Kirkland. Tractors were heavily damaged by flames on the grounds of a commercial establishment in Dorval and a car parked in a private entrance on rue Antoine-Faucon, in Pierrefonds, was also set on fire.