A 12-year-old girl is dead after a fire in a home on Marroni Street, near St-Patrick Street, Tuesday morning in Montreal’s LaSalle borough.
The Montreal fire department responded to the single-alarm fire at 9:10 a.m.
Firefighters located a 10-year-old and an 18-year-old outside the home.
“They informed us that a girl was in the basement,” said Matthew Griffith, section chief in prevention with the Montreal fire department.
“Our firefighters went in and they managed to retrieve that person and our first responders took over and started CPR immediately,”
Soon thereafter, paramedics with Urgences Santé took over the care of the child.
She was rushed to hospital in critical condition, where she later died of her injuries.
“There were some burns but she died from smoke inhalation,” Griffith said.
The cause of the fire has yet to be determined, but Griffith said it started in the basement of the two-storey home.
“The basement received extensive damage. The main floor of the two-storey single-unit building is mostly smoke damage,” he said.
Griffiths also confirmed there were no working smoke detectors inside the building.
“It’s an important reminder to people right now to check your smoke alarms,” he said.
“The importance of these cannot be overstated. If they are working, they will notify you and allow you to get out and save your families’ lives.”
He also specified that Montreal bylaws state that there must be working smoke alarms on each floor.
Prevention agents were on scene going door to door to remind people in the neighbourhood of the importance of the life-saving device.
Smoke alarms were being distributed to those who needed them.
Griffith also warned about the dangers of cluttered spaces that can make firefighters’ jobs more difficult.
“There was an accumulation of personal belongings in the basement that did hamper a bit our efforts in the operation,” he said of the fatal fire.
The 10-year-old and 18-year-old were not injured in the blaze but were transported to hospital to be treated for shock.
Montreal police have taken over the investigation as is protocol for any fire involving a fatality.
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