Fires like LIsle-Verte have no magic solution, official says

QUEBEC All the attention on sprinkler systems, following the fire that killed 32 last week at a seniors residence in LIsle-Verte, may be missing the point, says Louise Desrosiers, head of prevention for Montreals fire prevention service.

On Thursday, one week after the fire, 21 bodies had been recovered, eight of them positively identified, with 11 more bodies still believed to be in the ice-encased rubble of the collapsed three-storey structure.

Of course a sprinkler system will prevent a fire from spreading, Desrosiers said in a telephone interview.

But its not fire that kills, its smoke, Desrosiers explained, adding that smoke detectors may be more important in saving lives.

She explained that in a building equipped with sprinklers, but without smoke detectors, people could be dead from smoke inhalation before the sprinkler system is set off.

There is no magic solution, she said.

Desrosiers said the conditions at LIsle-Verte a fire that started after midnight, people with reduced mobility, Arctic temperatures and roaring winds, plus a volunteer fire department would not correspond to conditions in Montreal, where there is a professional fire department and as many as 16 fire trucks could be on the scene within five minutes.

We have to compare apples with apples, she said. But the Montreal fire service will be interested in the conclusions of the investigations of the LIsle-Verte catastrophe.

Desrosiers stressed that a system of smoke detectors in this type of residence, which is also cheaper than a sprinkler system, could speed the vital process of evacuating a building when fire breaks out.

She said the Montreal fire department asks people with reduced mobility to register, so firefighters know when a fire involves vulnerable residents.

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Fires like LIsle-Verte have no magic solution, official says