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Canada: Smoking linked to fire that killed five people

A house fire that killed five people in central Labrador on the weekend seems to have been a smoking-related accident, said a police investigator who spent hours yesterday examining the damaged building. Those who died in the Happy Valley-Goose Bay fire included Paulette Jacque, 33; Kathleen Jararuse, 17; and a 24-year-old woman whose identity was withheld by police at the request of her family. Charlotte Jacque, 5, Ms. Jacque's daughter, and Matthew Allen, 13, died in a St. John's hospital, hours after they were airlifted from Happy Valley-Goose Bay, police said yesterday.

"I suspect anywhere you go in this community right now, the conversation will centre on this tragic event," said Leo Abbass, mayor of the town of about 8,000. He noted that candlelight vigils had already been held and that crisis-management teams were working yesterday with the peers of the young victims. According to one report, butterflies were released at Charlotte Jacque's school as part of a ceremony with her classmates. The two women and the teenager died of smoke inhalation. Autopsies on the two younger victims are expected to be conducted today.

Four other people who were in the building at the time of the early Sunday fire escaped. An 11-year-old boy, Ms. Jacque's son, was still in hospital late yesterday. Mr. Abbass predicted that the town would rally around the survivors and the families of the victims. "Those who survive still have to have a place to live," he said. "Certain items that they require, I suspect it's only a matter of time before something is in place to help them."

Constable Terance Munro, a fire investigator with the local RCMP detachment, said that there was substantial fire damage on the first floor of the home and extensive smoke damage upstairs. "The fire started in the downstairs part of the house," he said late yesterday. "It was determined to be an accidental cause." Constable Munro said that smoking-related materials appeared to have sparked the deadly blaze. He had no information on where in the house the victims and survivors were when the blaze broke out. Police said the home had a working smoke alarm.

The local fire department was called to the two-storey building shortly after 6 a.m. on Sunday. Fire Chief Carl Oldford said the blaze was easily contained but still presented a challenge for firefighters, with thick smoke and toxic fumes. "It was quite difficult at first because of the visibility." RCMP Corporal Keith MacKinnon said yesterday morning that police were investigating whether alcohol played a role in the incident.

Source: globeandmail.com, 24th June 2008
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