Montreal firefighters were called out to the abandoned Empress theatre on Sherbrooke St. in NDG on Wednesday afternoon.
They weren't there to fight a fire, but rather, to rescue a black cat that appeared on a top-floor ledge about 25 to 30 feet up above the street.
A fire truck was parked in the middle of Sherbrooke St. between Marcil and Old Orchard while the operation went on.
The cat seemed to emerge from a broken section of a tiled window on the third floor of the building and onto a ledge, and occasionally scampered back inside through that opening.
The Empress theatre — which was known as Cinema V in its later years — has sat empty since it was gutted by fire in the early 1990s.
Locals know it to be a haven for squatters.
Matthew Gilmour (CJAD 800)