More than 30 feared dead after horror nursing home fire at Canadian nursing home that has left police melting icy rubble to search for bodies
- The death toll stands at five, but dozens more are unaccounted for
- Canada's Prime Minister warned it is likely to rise significantly as firefighters searched through the wreckage for more bodies
- Rescue workers are using steam to melt the ice encasing the charred rubble, it is a foot thick in some places
- The fire broke out early Thursday morning and tore through the seniors' home, trapping residents dependent on wheelchairs and walkers
- Firefighters saw and heard people in the building that they were unable to save
- A neighbor said he watched a woman burn to death as her son tried to frantically save her life
- Another witness reported seeing a woman's balcony collapse back into the building, throwing another resident into the raging fire
- Most of the dozens missing have limited mobility and the building was only partially equipped with sprinklers
- Temperatures hovered around minus five degrees Fahrenheit, wind chills plunged to minus 20
- Rescuers were able to save 20 people
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The fire broke out around 12:30 a.m. and raged through the facility and trapped residents dependent on wheelchairs and walkers. Workers are now beginning the arduous process of melting the ice in single digit temperatures to find the remaining victims.
Officials said firefighters saw and heard people in the building that they were unable to save, witnesses also reported seeing people burn to death. One of the victims has been identified as a 90-year-old.
Jos Melanfant was reported dead by the Montreal Gazette. He is the first of five known victims to be named.
Melting the ice: Rescue personnel are enveloped
in the steam being used to melt the ice hampering their progress at the
scene of the horrific Thursday morning nursing home fire in rural
Quebec
Arctic: The fire is finally out, but ice up to a foot thick is making finding more victims increasingly difficult
Grim task: Five people have been confirmed dead so far, but dozens more are still unaccounted for
Firefighters worked through the night until early Friday morning to put out the remaining hot spots before moving to melt the ice, which is up to a foot thick in some places, according to the Toronto Star
'The steam allows us to melt the ice and proceed forward,' Quebec Provincial Police Lt. Guy LaPointe told NBC News. 'And, most importantly, preserve the integrity of individual victims.'
Three teams including forensic technicians and other coroner's office staff are working in shifts due to the bitter cold he continued.
The harsh weather froze the water used to fight the blaze into an icy mold encasing everything it touched, making the recovery effort and subsequent investigation even more difficult.
'The cold is extreme, the equipment could freeze,' Mr LaPointe lamented. 'We could run into other issues.'
Firefighters' hoses often froze while fighting the fire, according to reports.
Massive tragedy: An emergency worker walks past a
sign that reads 'Look out for our residents' as they search through the
icy rubble
Trying to determine a cause: Police investigators remove evidence from the charred building
Over here!: A police investigator, enveloped in steam, signals to colleagues as the search carries on
Safety first: A firefighter checks for gas leak as rescue personnel search for more victims
This has also hampered efforts to nail down both an exact death toll and the number of people unaccounted for, said Mr Lapointe.
When asked if he believes further bodies remain trapped in the ice, he said 'nothing has been ruled out.'
The steam is being used and rescuers are moving slowly because of how badly damaged the building is, he explained to the Montreal Gazette.
'You have to understand that because the building has collapsed, all the water has frozen,' said LaPointe. 'You want to do it very... respectfully for the potential victims.'
He would not commit to a timeline for completing a recovery operation and determining the cause of the blaze.
'It is so cold people can't search for one or
two hours,' Jean Bélanger, head of civil security for the region, told the Gazette. 'They will maybe work for half an hour and then will be relieved so they can rest.'
Temperatures are expected to rise into the mid-20s on Saturday, which should greatly aid in the grim search.
'Nothing is ruled out': Rescue personnel carry a
stretcher around the site after an official said there are likely more
bodies to be found
Treacherous: A police investigator slips while searching for victims and evidence in the blaze
Massive losses: As many as 30 more people are feared dead
The octogenarian ran out of the building in slippers after hearing the fire alarm, but then turned around and helped other fight through hallways choked with black smoke.
'I got out in better shape than anybody,' he added, 'Maybe it’s just that I’m younger than anybody else.'
He never bothered to look at the flames engulfing the building until smoke inhalation forced him to stay outside - the entire ground floor was red with flames, he said, adding 'it’s terrible, it’s all people I knew.'
Another woman who tried to save her mother arrived too late.
'We knew she died in the fire,' Bibiane Côte-Mignault lamented to the Globe and Mail.
'My mother was 92 but she was still lively,' she added. 'I played bingo with her on Monday. We didn’t want to see her leave this way.'
One of the witnesses spoke of the horrors he saw.
'People tried to do whatever they could, but the fire was so intense that there wasn't much that could be done,' said Pascal Fillion. He recalled locals and firefighters already at the scene trying everything to save the panicked people inside.
'I saw people crying, I saw people collapse because they were watching those people burn.'
Many of those unaccounted for were confined to wheelchairs and walkers and only five residents in the center were fully autonomous, said Ginette Caron, acting mayor of the small town of L'Isle-Verte, about 140 miles northeast of Quebec City.
She said some had Alzheimer's disease.
The massive fire in the three-story building broke out around 12:30 a.m. and raged through the night.
Frozen: Firefighters continued to douse the
rubble where fire destroyed a a seniors residence leaving five people
dead and 30 unaccounted for in L'Isle-Verte, Quebec, Thursday
Trapped: The fire trapped terrified residents, most of them dependent on wheelchairs and walkers
'It was a total fire,' L'Iles-Verte fire chief Yvan Charron said.
Fillion said, for the most part, rescuers felt helpless against a fast-moving blaze with smoke so thick it was nearly impossible to approach the building.
The fire broke out in -4F temperatures, causing equipment to freeze, Charron noted.
As morning dawned and the fire was brought under control, the burned section of the facility resembled a macabre ice palace, with sheets of ice and thick icicles covering the structure.
Blaze from the sky: An aerial handout photo shows the aftermath of the fire at the seniors home in L'Isle-Verte, Quebec
Hard job: A police investigator looks over the frozen rubble for survivors or, more likely, bodies
Investigation: Investigator and firefighters survey the damage after the fatal fire
The search for the missing was still hampered Thursday night by the cold and thick ice and the fact that the building has collapsed, said Quebec Provincial police Lt. Guy Lapointe.
Lapointe said late Thursday that the search for those missing will regroup at daylight.
'We can keep some hope for those unaccounted for, but there's very little doubt that the loss of life is considerable,' Prime Minister Stephen Harper said.
Retired police officer Pierre Filion, who had a cousin and an aunt living in the residence and who lives nearby, said the tragedy had shaken the tightly knit community of 1,500 people.
'It's going to take a long time to start living normally,' said Filion whose missing relatives are both in their 70s.
Outside the building, Jacques Berube, 70, was getting ready to hear the worst about his 99-year-old mother, who is blind but still mobile.
Icy conditions: The search for the missing was
still hampered Thursday night by the cold and thick ice and the fact
that the building has collapsed, said Quebec Provincial police Lt. Guy
Lapointe
Smoke: Smoke rises from the smouldering remains of a fire at the seniors residence in L'Isle-Verte, Thursday
'I went near the building; the corner where her room was is burned,' he said. 'I'll just have to wait and see. I don't like it. But I don't have any choice. It's just reality.'
Parts of the Residence du Havre, which opened in 1997, had sprinklers, while others didn't.
Charron chief said sprinklers did go off, triggering the fire alarm and allowing firefighters to gain access to about one-third of the building.
Mario Michaud, who lives across the street from the building, said he witnessed the unfolding drama shortly after midnight.
'The fire had started on the second floor. I woke up my girlfriend and called 911. I saw the firefighters and they got to work. A woman on the second floor was shouting and she went out on to the balcony.
'Her son went to get a ladder but he couldn't get to her. She burned to death,' Michaud told local newspaper Info Dimanche.
At least three people survived the blaze with injuries, though the extent of these was unclear.
The building was home to more than 50 people and also housed a social agency, a pharmacy and a hair salon.
Tragic: Five are dead and more than 30 missing as a result of the raging fire
'A night in hell': A local fire chief called the combination of raging flames and bitter cold hellish
A Quebec Health Department document updated last July said the building, with one elevator, was constructed entirely of wood.
Most residents were older than 75 and 37 of them were older than 85. The building included both single rooms and apartment-style dwellings. The document also indicates the building was only partially fitted with a sprinkler system but did have a fire alarm. There were smoke detectors in every room and in the building itself.
The fire comes just six months after 47 people were killed in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, when a train with 72 oil tankers derailed and exploded in the small community.
A further 20 people were rescued from the inferno that saw flames shooting several stories into the air as firefighters battled extreme temperatures dropping below zero.
Earlier, Fire Chief Yvan Charron described the evening as 'a night of hell' to Dimanche.
Authorities spoke Thursday of the grim reality now facing the tiny town of just over 1,500 people.
'These are elderly, some of which are very limited mobility,' Mr Charron added. 'Others were afraid and they hid under blankets.'
'Her boy, he broke down,' Mario Michaud added to the Globe and Mail. 'It wasn't pretty.'
Engulfed: The nursing homes west wing was completely engulfed in flames and burned to the ground
Killer inferno: The fire is confirmed to have taken five lives
Haunting: A neighbor told media he watched a man try in vain to save his mother's life, he instead watched her burn to death
Volunteer fire fighters from at least 20 separate barracks responded to the blaze, according to Dimanche. They had to battle both the towering flames and temperatures plunging well below zero.
Their efforts were not able to keep the complex from completely burning to the ground.
'Some are still looking for their parents but we're certain that our mother has died,' another local told the Globe and Mail. 'She was on the balcony and there was too much smoke … the building has collapsed so she's still in the rubble.'
Authorities have said it will take several hours to sift through the charred building for victims.
Another woman was found wracked with guilt outside the blaze – she had recently placed her parents in the facility.
'I didn't send my parents to see them burn there,' Marielle Marquis, the president of a local seniors club, recalled to the Globe and Mail.
The 20 residents rescued from the raging fire lived in the complex’s newer east wing, the Globe and Mail reported. It had a firewall that blocked the flames from reaching them.
The building's older wing touts an automatic sprinkler system on its website, but official filings show it has only partial sprinklers, according to the Globe and Mail.
The facility was first opened in 1997, according to the Montreal Gazette.
No escape: Many of the more than 30 residents
missing or unaccounted for were infirm and unable to move without a
wheelchair or walker, a local official said
Terrifying: Another local said he watched as a
woman's balcony caved in - the collapse dragged her from safety and back
into the out of control fire
Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a statement shortly after the tragedy expressing grief over the deaths.
'On behalf of the entire country, I offer my sincere condolences to the family and friends of those who passed away following the fire at a seniors' residence in eastern Quebec,' he said.
'My thoughts and prayers are also with those who remain unaccounted for and all those who have been injured.'
Quebec Premier Pauline Marois offered her condolences from Davos, Switzerland.
'I want to extend my condolences to all the families affected by this terrible fire,' she said. 'I have been in touch with my office and we are doing everything we can to support the community and families.
'It's a private center but we're talking about human beings, so we'll do whatever we can. I am deeply saddened by this event.'
The fire comes just six months after 47 people were killed in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, when a train with 72 oil tankers derailed and exploded in the small community.
A 1969 nursing home fire in the community of Notre-Dame-du-Lac, Quebec, claimed 54 lives.
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