Two girls killed in fire
Mom, neighbour driven back by raging blaze
A Quebec mother of two went back inside a burning home in La Pêche on Saturday night to save her girls, but the flames, heat and smoke were too intense and they could not be reached.
MRC des Collines-de-l'Outaouais police reported Sunday afternoon that two bodies had been found inside the home on Murray Road. Both girls were under the age of 10.
The mother, who was forced to jump from a window as the fire raged, is now in a Montreal hospital burn unit. She was initially in critical condition, but police say she is now stable. Her boyfriend, who is not the father of the two girls, is also in hospital for less-serious wounds. The names of the victims have not yet been released.
Neighbours Julie and André Forget were turning in after another night of ski movies when Julie heard smashing and crackling noises. She looked out the bedroom window and saw that the neighbour's place was fully engulfed. She called 911, while André Forget went into action.
Forget, a Canadian Ski patrol member, grabbed a flashlight and ran through the snowy woods toward the blaze yelling: “Is anyone there? Get out of the house!”
Forget ran to the back of the house where he saw the couple outside, covered in blood and wearing only T-shirts and underwear.
“My kids are in there. My kids are in there,” the woman cried.
When Forget, 49, heard there were children trapped inside, he ran up the deck of the house, called out for them, then tried to get inside, but the windows were breaking from the heat, he heard explosions inside and saw nothing but flames.
“I had to retreat. It was a raging inferno. It was too unsafe,” said Forget, who completed his advanced first aid training with the Canadian Ski Patrol last month.
That training came in handy Saturday night as he administered first aid to the couple in their garage. Using only his flashlight to see, he at first used a sheet to bandage the mother's wounds. He then went back outside and yelled for his son, Evan, 15, to get his Canadian Ski Patrol pack from his Jeep.
Forget credits his training for stopping the bleeding, and praised another neighbour, a nurse, who he said dressed the woman's wounds.
While waiting for ambulances, Forget kept a blanket over the couple, who were in shock. He stood over them and as the mother was cradled in her boyfriend's arms. The fire went up “very, very fast like a box of matches,” Forget said.
“There was no coming back from that fire. It's not like Hollywood. It was burning like a torch.”
MRC des Collines and firefighters called in an excavator for the search of the children feared dead on Sunday morning. The police forensic identification unit rolled in just before noon on Sunday. A fire investigator has also been called in to find out what started the deadly blaze in Masham, around 40 kilometres north of Ottawa.
The bodies of the two girls were recovered Sunday and autopsies are scheduled for later this week in Montreal.
There was no coming back from that fire. It's not like Hollywood. It was burning like a torch.