Minister draws fire for entering boundaries controversy

MAYERTHORPE RCMP are investigating after five people — two adults and three children — were found dead on Friday following a fire in a Mayerthorpe-area home, RCMP said in a Friday news release.

Emergency services and Lac Ste. Anne County firefighters responded to a residential fire around 4 p.m. on Thursday. The blaze destroyed the home.

In the early hours of Friday morning, one occupant was found dead. A further search, once the blaze was fully extinguished, located four more occupants, also dead. At a Friday evening news conference, RCMP Cpl. Deanna Fontaine said there is nothing to indicate the deaths are criminal.

On Friday evening, the corner house in the hamlet of Rochfort Bridge had been reduced to a mound of frozen earth and debris.

Around 8 p.m., fire crews and RCMP arrived to extinguish hot spots that remained.

Multiple family members told Postmedia Marvin Gibbs, 82, and his wife Janet Gibbs were killed in the fire along with three of their grandchildren. Effie Gibbs, Marvin’s sister-in-law, said the two had full custody of the children.

Janet and Marvin had been together for nearly 10 years, said Grace Adams, Janet’s stepsister, and had been caring for Janet’s grandkids for over a year.

“My heart sank when I heard the news,” Adams said. “It’s a hard thing to swallow.”

Neighbour Bob Hook said he served with Marvin as a volunteer firefighter for more than 20 years.

He said he ran across the street just after 3:30 p.m. on Thursday and banged on the door as “flames shot out of the back of the house” where Marvin had a wood-fire stove to heat the home.

Seeing the family’s vehicle was gone and hearing no answer as smoke billowed from the front door, Hook said he assumed no one was home and retreated as emergency crews arrived on scene.

Hook’s wife Noella said Marvin and Janet cared for the three children as if they were their own.

Joe Blakeman, reeve of Lac Ste. Anne County, said Friday afternoon the community was grieving following the fire.

“Any time we lose residents in the county, we feel the utmost for the family and the neighbours and the community,” said Blakeman.

DAVID BLOOM Firefighters return to the scene of a fatal house fire in the hamlet of Rochford Bridge on Friday. Firefighters were going back to douse hot spots at the home where earlier five people were found dead.