Fire at Home in Thurso, Que., Consumes Life of 2 Children

Two children were found dead in a home in Thurso, Que., about 45 kilometres east of Gatineau, which was destroyed by fire. According to the representatives of the Quebec provincial police, the fire was reported at about 4:47 a.m. ET on Lacroix Street. The two-story stone home was already blazing when firefighters, paramedics and police reached the scene, after which it took them more than three hours to defeat the fire from outside.

Police reported that three children and three adults were shifted to nearby hospital, including the children’s parents. It was revealed that a 12-yer-old girl was initially hurried to the hospital and later transferred to the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa. It was revealed that two more children were unaccounted for, police explained, due to which firefighters restarted their search of the home at about 9 a.m., while the bodies of the two children were discovered soon after.

A neighbor, Sylvain Leblanc, explained that he awoke due to the fire at about 4:30 a.m., explaining that he found three children in “bad, bad shape” on the sidewalk. He and his wife took them inside and offered help until the paramedics arrived and performed some initial treatment on the children in his kitchen. He alleged that “one of the kids was burned on the hand, on the feet, really bad. I have blood in my kitchen. I have a lot of paramedic stuff. It’s like a warzone. That’s my kitchen now,” while adding that “I think when I’m going to be alone, I might cry.”