Woman who died in East Vancouver fire previously lost three children in house fire

WATCH: An update on that fatal fire at an abandoned warehouse in East Vancouver. The bodies of a mother and son were found after crews managed to put out the flames. John Daly has more on who the pair were – and why investigators are looking into their past.

A fatal fire in East Vancouver this week has a tragic coda.

Louise Spence and her adult son Nobert died early Monday morning when a fire destroyed the abandoned building they were staying in on East Hastings street.

Now, it’s been discovered that Louise had three children – all under the age of five – who died in a Winnipeg house fire in 1998. The deaths received widespread attention at the time, and there was an inquiry into whether their deaths could have been prevented with working smoke alarms.

“I couldn’t look at it. I said this is not true,” said Louise’s sister Kathy, when she heard the news from her home in Edmonton.

“I can’t believe it. There’s too much death in my family.”