L’ISLE-VERTE, Quebec: Quebec Premier Pauline Marois yesterday said a fatal fire in a seniors’ residence was “unacceptable” but stopped short of saying her government would make sprinklers mandatory in homes for the elderly.
“These are events we very much don’t want to happen, and so we have to do everything possible to make sure they don’t happen again,” she told reporters after arriving in town..
Authorities fear 32 people died early on Thursday when fire ripped through the Residence du Havre in L’Isle-Verte, a town of 1,500 people some 230km northeast of Quebec City in eastern Canada.
Marois later joined town residents at a private memorial service at the town’s simple stone church.
Roch Bernier, co-owner of the residence, greeted the congregation somberly and was given a standing ovation.
“I come to you with a heart full of emotion and at the same time enormous suffering,” he told the mourners, saying he considered the residents to be part of his family. Bernier also called on people not to look for blame.
“Let us find out what we can to do to help each other,” he said before returning to his seat, barely able to choke back tears.
A larger public mass is due to be held in the town on February 1. A spokesman for Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper did not immediately respond when asked whether Harper would attend.
“My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims of the terrible fire in L’Isle-Verte,” Harper said in a statement on Twitter. REUTERS
