It seems like it was yesterday. I get out of the shower a little after 5:30 a.m., I glance at my cell phone. Lots of missed calls, from LCN and Paul Arcand’s team. Clearly something is going on. I check the news to see the horror that is hitting a seniors’ residence… in the village next to the one where I spent half my life, in the heart of the riding that I represented as an MP.
From minute to minute, I become aware of the scale of the tragedy. The situation could hardly be worse. The fire broke out in the middle of the night while everyone was asleep. People were likely trapped inside. It was freezing cold. And it was windy.
It’s on sale in L’Isle-Verte! One kilometer from the river, the Résidence du Havre was well exposed to the strong winds of the St. Lawrence estuary. The wind gives swords to the cold to cross you, the wind makes the impossible work of the firefighters and other emergency services even more difficult. The wind accelerates the fire. The wind creates a background noise that adds to the horror.
- Listen to the Maréchal-Dumont meeting with Isabelle Maréchal via QUB :
The horror
Horror is what the residents and stakeholders experienced in L’Isle-Verte on January 23, 2014. Six months later the people of Lac-Mégantic. The stories of those who experienced it are disturbing. Their memories mix with darkness, cold, the roar of the fire, screams of terror, the smell, panic.
Isle-Verte cried. 32 lives taken by the fire. Psychological shocks for dozens of other people, survivors or responders. And a gaping hole in the middle of this beautiful village, a painful memory of the worst night in its history.
Then everyone asked questions. On the steps of the church, in the media and more officially, in a coroner’s inquest. The building, the procedures, the emergency measures, the work of the firefighters, the government standards, everything is there.
Archive photo
To get up
Although disturbing and painful for some, this questioning is necessary. Human life is precious and in the face of such a tragedy, we seek answers, we want to understand. Above all, we live with the hope that humanity improves by learning from its mistakes and tragedies.
In the case of the fire at the Résidence du Havre, the questioning extended to all seniors’ residences in Quebec. Since thousands of people are housed there, and many of them live with limitations in their autonomy or mobility, safety in the event of fire has been reassessed.
There were consequences: the requirement to add sprinkler systems as well as other mandatory adaptations in these buildings put serious financial pressure on the centers. Several owners of residences, especially among the smallest, have also chosen to close, unable to finance such work.
As for L’Isle-Verte, the community has recovered. The Résidence de l’Ancrage is under construction on the same land. Before the end of 2024, it will welcome seniors. A proud village, like so many others in Quebec, that the wind bends but which always comes back upright.