Brampton in shock after fatal blaze
Young boy with a love for sports and his dog, Sophie, dies during sleepover at townhouse complex as massive fire leaves dozens homeless
On Saturday, 10-year-old Nicolas Gabriel played basketball with friends in the neighbourhood.
That night, he went for a sleepover a few doors down from his family home in a Brampton townhouse complex near Kennedy Rd. and Queen St. E.
During the night, a fire began in the home on Ardglen Dr. where Nicolas was sleeping. Emergency crews, called around 3:15 a.m., arrived to find flames engulfing the two-storey building as hundreds of residents fled the inferno. The fire swept along the roofline in both directions.
Around 8 a.m., Nicolas’s father, Shane, posted a photo of himself and his son on Facebook. He wrote: “Please pray for us. Nicolas was in the apartment that caught fire and is now missing.” An hour later: “In case you all haven’t heard . . . We lost Nicolas today.”
Nicolas was the only person who didn’t survive the fire, which officials believe started in the kitchen of the unit where he slept. Brampton Deputy Fire Chief Michael Clark said crews had “an early indication that a young boy was still inside the townhouse” and “made a rapid, aggressive attack.”
“But nevertheless, they weren’t able to make entry.”
Eventually, firefighters found Nicolas’s body in a second-floor bedroom.
On Sunday evening, as volunteer Ariel Lavoye made her way through the complex distributing water and food to residents allowed to return to undamaged units around 4 p.m., she came across Sharon Joyce and a small black-and-white dog, Sophie — Nicolas’s dog.
Joyce has been caring for her since the fire, she told the volunteers. Lavoye lowered her face into her hand.
Kelly Gabriel, Nicolas’s mother, told CP24 that her son was a funloving boy who adored video games and “always had to have his PlayStation after school.”
“He was my baby,” she said. Nicolas has a brother and a sister.
“My 14-year-old and 6-year-old are not holding up very well,” said Gabriel. “My 6-year-old is saying, ‘I want Nicolas to come back.’ My 14-yearold daughter is blaming herself because they fought.”
Neighbourhood resident Dennis Blenhart remembered Nicolas riding his bike up and down the alleyways of the complex, often stopping in at the goldfish pond in the Blenharts’ backyard.
“He could be quite a little tyrant, as all kids can be,” said Blenhart, smiling at the memory. “But he was a good kid . . . I’m going to miss him being around.”
Terri Chad, Gabriel’s aunt, briefly spoke to reporters Sunday afternoon on behalf of the family. She said they were devastated, and asked for privacy in their time of grief.
The two-alarm fire destroyed at least 18 units, leaving 80 to 100 residents homeless. Initially, hundreds were evacuated, including many from the adjacent townhouse complexes, who were later allowed to return.
“My 6-year-old is saying, ‘I want Nicolas to come back.’ ” KELLY GABRIEL MOTHER OF BOY WHO DIED
At a nearby strip mall, emergency personnel gathered evacuees such as Jennifer Craig, 32, who lived in the unit next to the one where the fire started. Her boyfriend had to wake her twice before she finally realized the world around her was burning.
“There was smoke everywhere. It burned my lungs. All I could feel was fear,” she said, sitting in a blue plastic chair in a parking lot alongside dozens of other displaced residents.
The couple fled from the townhouse, heat bearing down on their backs, as the fire ransacked the complex Craig moved into barely a month ago.
Craig’s 8-year-old son was staying at her mom’s that night, so he wasn’t in harm’s way.
But Craig, who has yet to see the devastation, could barely contain her tears as she thought about what else she’s lost.
“I know it’s just stuff. But it’s stuff I’ve accumulated throughout my entire life,” she said. “My son’s baby albums . . .”
She paused. “You just never think this will happen to you.”
Jen Polly, 25, remembered a group of her son’s friends, including Nico- las, asking to sleep over on Saturday night after playing basketball.
“They wanted to sleep over at my house,” she said. “I said no, my son’s too young.”
Polly reflected on the shooting death of 9-year-old Kesean Williams just a year earlier in the same complex. Williams was killed while watching television, struck by driveby gunfire that came through a window.
“I have to explain again to (my son) that another friend from our neighbourhood is gone,” she said. “It just doesn’t make sense.”
Brampton Mayor Susan Fennell, who arrived at the scene Sunday, said the area is still reeling from Williams’ death. Now this.
“To have a fire that displaces so many families, on top of the loss of a young boy — it’s a tragedy. It’s a nightmare.”
As rain began to fall on the strip mall, Peel Social Services directed evacuees to Gibson Recreation Centre, where their shelter, clothing and food needs were being assessed. Social services workers were assisted by the Canadian Red Cross and the Peel Salvation Army. Many families found shelter with friends and family, but five families were sent to stay at the Salvation Army shelter in Mississauga, a spokesperson confirmed. Social services said 17 people in all were put up in emergency housing. The community responded with an outpouring of food and clothing donations Sunday, so much that social services asked that no more donations be brought to the rec centre. Anyone who is interested in helping affected families can donate financially to the Nicolas Gabriel/Ardglen Trust Fund at regenbrampton.com. Social services workers are creating a complete registry of those affected. The Ontario fire marshal’s office, the coroner’s office and Peel police are all investigating. With files from Laurent Bastien Corbeil, Sean Wetselaar and Kim Brown