A massive fire in Lachute Wednesday that forced more than 2,000 students out of their school was likely an accident, but the fire department is trying to figure out why the school’s fire alarm never went to off.
“I was sitting in the class just under where the fire started so there was smoke coming in and me and my friend are like dude, there’s smoke in class and we were just panicking because they didn’t want to let us out,” says Jessica Dubord.
It took close to a hundred firefighters eight hours to get the flames under control. 6 firefighters were taken to hospital for injuries ranging from smoke inhalation to minor fractures.
“They are all well today everybody got out of the hospital one had broken ribs,” says Lachute Fire Chief Pierre Morand.
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While clean-up crews took over Thursday engineers were also on site trying to see if the structure is safe.
“We are doing our utmost to make sure that we can have the kids back on their seat and we’re working 24 hours a day actually to achieve this,” says Remi Tremblay of Commission scolaire de la Rivière-du-Nord.
The biggest concern for the fire chief at this point is why the smoke detector didn’t work. Just before the fire broke out welders were working on pipes in a small room next to the roof. That has firefighters convinced the cause in this case is accidental.
“What we can see sometimes they put the alarm on silence during the time they do the work because when they do welding it can start the alarm system,” says Morand.
The building houses two high schools and an adult learning centre. While the Laurentian Regional High School was spared, 60 percent of the Polyvalente Lavigne was damaged.
“We evalutate at the present time that what has been damaged the most is actually the gymnasium as well as the library,” says Tremblay, “so it gives us a little bit of breathing room in terms of classrooms.”
Laurentian High School will open its doors again Friday. Students next door will have to wait a while longer. The school board is hoping to complete the clean-up by Monday. Some are skeptical and desperate to get back.
“Yes cause it’s my last year and I need it for CEGEP so I’m worried if we can still go on here or go somewhere else,” says Dubord.
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