Rescuers melt ice in search for victims of Canadian senior home fire

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Rescuers melt ice in search for victims of Canadian senior home fire

NBC News

Ryan Remiorz / Canadian Press via AP

Rescue personnel search through the icy rubble Friday of a fire that destroyed a senior residence in Quebec.

By Miranda Leitsinger, NBC News

Fire crews in Quebec are using steam to melt the ice encasing the charred rubble of a seniors home Friday as they search for victims of a blaze that killed at least five people and left some 30 others missing, authorities said.
Firefighters and police officers put out the last traces of the blaze overnight at the Residence du Havre in the small village of L’Isle-Verte and brought equipment to the scene to thaw the ice, said Quebec Provincial Police Lt. Guy LaPointe.

The search is on this morning for dozens of people still unaccounted for after a deadly fire blazed through a senior center in Quebec and killed at least five people. A fire chief called it a "night from hell." NBC's Katy Tur reports.

Three teams, which include forensic technicians and experts from the coroner’s office, are rotating in shifts because of the “extreme cold.”
“The steam allows us to melt the ice and proceed forward,” he said. “And most importantly, preserve the integrity of individual victims.”

Authorities haven’t determined the cause of the fire, which erupted about 12:30 a.m. Thursday in the community along the St. Lawrence Seaway. Neighbors described a rapidly moving blaze, saying they saw some of the home’s residents jump from the building and one man try to save his elderly mom by climbing up a ladder.
The cold has hampered efforts since the blaze began: it froze some of the water that firefighters tried to use to extinguish the fire and left behind ice-caked wreckage, slowing efforts to determine the number of victims, said LaPointe. He said he couldn’t give a time frame for when their work would be done.

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Bitter cold hampers search after L'Isle-Verte fire

A firefighter looks on at the seniors residence Residence du Havre after a fire in L'Isle Verte, Quebec. 23 Januayr 2013

Crews are searching the rubble in 45-minute shifts to minimise exposure to the dangerously low temperatures

The bitter cold is hindering the search for as many as 30 elderly and infirm Canadians unaccounted for after a fire destroyed a Quebec old people's home.

Crews are struggling in temperatures of -21C (-6F) in L'Isle-Verte, a day after five people were confirmed killed in the blaze.
The ruins of Residence du Havre have collapsed and are frozen over with a thick layer of ice from the fire hoses.
Many of the missing were dependent on wheelchairs and walking frames.
The deadly fire broke out about 00:30 local time (05:30 GMT) on Thursday.
'Preserve victims' Several fire departments were called to the town of 1,500 - 225km (140 miles) east of Quebec City - to help extinguish the fire, which was fanned by strong winds.
Emergency crews were able to save about 20 of the home's 52 residents, at least 13 of who were treated at hospital.
The Quebec Provincial Police told reporters on Friday that three teams of police and firefighters were searching the debris in 45-minute shifts in order to minimise their exposure to the cold, using tools that produced steam to melt the ice coating the ruins.

The BBC's Beth McLeod: "Many are missing, feared dead"

Lt Guy Lapointe said the steam would allow the teams to "melt the ice and preserve the integrity of possible victims".
But officials have not confirmed more than five deaths, saying they wanted to determine how many people were in the building at the time of the fire.
Investigators have begun searching for the cause of the blaze, and say they have not ruled anything out.

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