UPDATED: Don’t miss this: One way to handle police parking on the fireground

When the cars didn’t move quickly enough, the truck simply rear-ended the last cruiser in line, pushing the row of cars up the street.

The truck then backed up and bolted through the opening, crushing the side of the German luxury car and shearing off the front bumper.

Fire official Denis Doucet used words such as “unique” and “exceptional” to describe the fire truck’s manoeuvre.

“There were exceptional circumstances: a major fire in a seven-story building, the narrow streets of Old Montreal…with large vehicles,” he said. “It becomes difficult to manoeuvre.”

The City of Montreal will compensate the owner of the BMW.