EPIPHANY | A spa could be the cause of a fire that put a father and his neighbor on the street, who lost everything on Sunday evening in Lanaudière.
“That was what was on fire first. It sure was the spa. I don’t see anything else,” blew Marc-André Michaud, 37, on Tuesday, staring at his yard razed by the intense blaze, Sunday evening, behind his semi-detached on the crescent of the Pond, at L’Épiphanie.
Marc-André Michaud in front of the ruins of his court.
Photo Jonathan Tremblay
At around 10:45 p.m., the construction worker was playing a video game with his cousin, when he saw an orange light through the window.
He then dropped everything. Realizing quickly that it was flames, Mr. Michaud shouted to his cousin, in his headset, to dial 911.
“I went outside with my dog. I tried to control the fire with the garden hose, but nothing could be done. I was screaming, “Help!” There was a full barbecue propane tank on the patio. It did not help,” he explained, while several experts were doing their inspection and cleaning work around him.
The blaze was intense and woke up a large part of the residents of the area on Sunday evening.
Photo provided by Marc-André Michaud
Drama avoided
Before the 35 firefighters deployed had brought the blaze under control, the flames had caused enormous damage to Mr. Michaud’s townhouse as well as that of his immediate neighbour. Inevitably, the work of the sappers and the water needed to contain the fire also unfortunately contributed to the damage to their property.
“It’s a total loss. All I could save was meat in the freezer downstairs,” said the father of two young children.
“They weren’t there, luckily. It would not have been the same story,” he continued, convinced that he would have been asleep with his little ones in the basement, if they had been present.
“It freaks me out, what happened. It could have been much more serious than that. There is a bit of luck in there, ”said Mr. Michaud, who has lived there since last April.
Here is the interior of his residence, the day after the fire.
Photo provided by Marc-André Michaud
His young daughter came to see the damage on Monday.
“All his toys burned down. That’s what pains me the most. Me, the material, it does not matter. I have my job, I haven’t lost anyone. That’s the important thing, ”assured the thirty-year-old, resilient.
A misfortune…
His spa dating from 2016, of which only a charred carcass remains, had been connected by a professional electrician, said the victim.
Repentigny firefighters are currently investigating to try to determine the exact causes surrounding the fire. Everything suggests that the source of the fire would indeed be the spa.
“We are not able to decide here. But this is the priority hypothesis, ”says Jean-Marc Picotte, assistant director of fire operations, in Repentigny.
The latter reminds that you have to make sure to have your hot tub installed by a certified electrician and to make sure that a GFI outlet is accessible outside, as was the case this time.
“Sometimes it can be a matter of bad luck. It requires more research,” he explains.