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There are 3 confirmed fatalities and 30 still missing at a seniors home that burned early this morning about 240 km from Quebec City. There were 50-60 seniors living at the home at the time of the fire.
Local chief firefighter Yvon Charron called it “a night from hell.”
The building was home to more than 50 people and also housed a social agency, a pharmacy and a hair salon.
Sixteen people took refuge in a local school.
Several fire departments in the region were called in to help extinguish the blaze, which completely destroyed the building.
Police have ordered a no-fly zone over the scene of the fire.
Bilodeau said about 20 residents were taken away from the Residence du Havre in L’Isle-Verte, located about 230 kilometres northeast of Quebec City and 30 kilometres east of Riviere-du-Loup. The residents were taken to the local school and the injured were taken to nearby hospitals, she said.
Firefighters, paramedics and police from neighbouring communities were called to the scene to help, she said. The Red Cross is also at the scene.
Firefighters from five neighbouring villages had to be called to battle the flames, which raged for several hours.
“It’s still smoking,” local resident Mario Michaud, who lives across the street from the residence, said in an interview. “This is awful.”
He said he saw a young man try in vain to bring a ladder to rescue his mother from a second-floor apartment inside the complex.
L’ISLE-VERTE, Que. – Fire raged through a seniors residence in eastern Quebec on Thursday morning, killing three people and leaving about another 30 missing.
The blaze consumed the complex in L’Isle-Verte, about 240 kilometres northeast of Quebec City.
NOTICE: Families concerned about residents at Havre de L’Isle-Verte after the fire are asked to call the emergency number 1-800-659-4264.
Quebec provincial police confirm at least three people are dead and about 30 are missing in a fire destroyed a seniors residence in eastern Quebec. Francois Drouin / Infodimanche.com
