L'Isle-Verte fire: Quebec prosecutor won't lay charges
CBC News | Posted: December 14, 2015 12:37 PM | Last Updated: December 14, 2015
Résidence du Havre fire killed 32 people, trapped inside as flames engulfed building in January 2014
Victims' family members say they're disappointed no criminal charges will be laid in connection with the fire that tore through a seniors' residence in L'Isle-Verte, Que., nearly two years ago, killing 32 people trapped inside.
The Résidence du Havre housed 52 elderly people, including many who couldn't move around without the use of a walker or wheelchair.
Jacqueline Dumont, whose husband was killed in the fire, said the news that no charges would be laid leaves her feeling let down.
"I'm very disappointed," she said.
"The caretaker was there to be a caretaker. Where was he?" she said, referring to the sole employee who was on duty that night.
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The wing of the Résidence du Havre that burned to the ground was not equipped with automatic sprinklers.
No proof of arson, criminal negligence
Speaking at a news conference in Rivière-du-Loup on Monday, senior provincial prosecutor Annie Landreville confirmed that no charges are to be laid.
Rivière-du-Loup is about 28 kilometres southwest of L'Isle-Verte.
"Neither the people who were present that night, when the fire started, nor the owners, nor the people who intervened during the fire, can be considered as being negligent in a criminal sense," she said.
Landreville said she could find no proof of a crime — either arson or criminal negligence — in the police investigation.
"We're not able to show or establish beyond reasonable doubt that there was a criminal infraction," she said.
Landreville added that she would have to be "reasonably convinced" she could convict someone in order to press charges.
Who is to blame?
The coroner's report into the early morning fire, released in February, made several recommendations to avoid such tragedies, including better fire-detection tools for seniors' residences.
The coroner also pointed to the lack of emergency personnel on duty the night of the fire, the significant delay in firefighters' response to the scene and questionable management of emergency operations on site.
Quebec has since expanded its sprinkler requirements for seniors' residences.
During the coroner's inquest, witnesses said that there was only one staff member on duty the night of the fire and the main door had a latch to prevent patients with dementia from leaving the building.
In the wake of the coroner's report, Roch Bernier, one of co-owners of the Résidence du Havre, said a combination of factors led to the tragedy.
He had filed a lawsuit against the municipality alleging the community failed to implement emergency plans that might have lowered the death toll, but that was later withdrawn.
Yvan Charron, the chief of L'Isle-Verte's fire department at the time of the fire, stepped down in January 2015.