Firefighters were still working on Sunday to try to establish the origin of the explosion that burned eight people, including four children, the day before, during a simple evening with friends in the courtyard of a residence in Saint-Constant, on the South Shore of Montreal.
The owners of the place, parents of two young daughters, had lit a fire in their courtyard during the visit of a couple of friends who also came with their two children, according to what several neighbors said. .
Around 9:40 p.m., an explosion reportedly occurred in a large garage adjacent to, but separate from, the house. “It made a big “boom”, it shook all the way to our house,” explained a neighbor, Pamela Mireault.
On Sunday, several neighbors still affected by the tragedy, some of whom had come to the aid of the two families, were chatting in front of their homes. “I’m still having trouble… I didn’t sleep well,” said Pamela Mireault, leaving her sentence hanging.
The flames would not have spared any of the participants in the evening. Severely burned, they still managed to escape from the courtyard, “I ran to see if they needed help then I sprayed them with the hose to relieve them,” described Pamela Mireault.
PHOTO CHARLES WILLIAM PELLETIER, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
“Afterwards we put them in dry blankets. They were really seriously burned, on 3e degree, the skin came off. My wife was with one of the children and he shakait », added, alongside him, another neighbor, Alexandre Nazarov.
The eight injured were conscious when help arrived, according to Pamela Mireault. Transported to a hospital center, the children to the Montreal Children’s Hospital and the adults to the CHUM, they were still there on Sunday.
The Cooperative of Ambulance Technicians of Montérégie (CETAM) was not able to provide an update on their condition.
A propane van
The blaze continued until late in the evening. The authorities cut off the electricity supply to help their work.
As for the exact cause of the explosion, the fire authority of the Alliance des Grandes-Seigneuries, which serves the town of Saint-Constant, continued its investigation on Sunday.
“We are still on site carrying out excavations in the rubble of the garage to try to find the source,” indicated its head of operations, Luc Lapointe.
A propane-powered “pickup-style” van was in the garage where the explosion is believed to have occurred, but it is unclear if that played a role in the explosion. Its charred carcass could be seen outside the building on Sunday.
According to a neighbor, Véronica Arcalean, the owner of the house used his garage to do auto mechanics. At the time of the tragedy, the van had risen into the air, probably thanks to a pneumatic lift.
The Roussillon Intermunicipal Police Authority is also assisting, in case clues point to a criminal cause, which did not seem to be the case.