QUEBEC CITY — The co-owner of Résidence du Havre in L’Isle Verte said Thursday he is not to blame for the 2014 blaze that killed 32 seniors.
Roch Bernier was reacting for the very first time to the coroner’s report, in which he is severely criticized.
“We have always followed the rules,” he repeated several times.
It’s not what coroner Cyrille Delâge found. In his report tabled in February, Delâge wrote: “I say this with no hesitation: on the night of the fire, residents were almost left to fend for themselves.”
Delâge criticized Bernier’s evacuation plan, the lack of training and the fact that the night guard, Bruno Bélanger, never once participated in fire drills. On the night of the fire, Bélanger went to wake the co-owner of Résidence du Havre, Irène Plante, instead of helping residents exit their rooms safely.
Still, Bernier said he stands by his employee and insisted the seniors’ home did everything right.
“We were properly certified,” he said, adding the builders, the health agency, the municipality and the fire department said the Résidence du Havre was meeting norms.
“No one explained to us in depth what to do in case of emergency … we were badly counselled,” Bernier said.
Bernier believes he has been “unfairly targeted” and is now thinking of suing contractors who helped build and renovate the home.
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Management at Résidence du Havre was also slammed for lodging non-autonomous seniors in a section of the building with no sprinklers.
Again, Bernier said it’s not his fault: “The seniors were ‘in transition,'” he explained. “I agree with the coroner’s report, but I don’t believe it dug deep enough.”
The coroner concluded the fire started in the kitchen; Bernier maintains it started on the second floor. He has asked a private investigator to re-open the case.
A spokesperson for the Public Security Minister, Jean-Philippe Guay, said Bernier is entitled to launch legal action, but no one else has come forward to question the coroner’s findings.
In fact, the government has already allocated $20 million for firefighter training and will spend $71 million over the next four years to help pay for the installation of sprinkler systems.
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