L'Isle-Verte nursing home fire

The L'Isle-Verte nursing home fire happened on January 23, 2014 at the Résidence du Havre nursing home in the town of L'Isle-Verte, Quebec, Canada at approximately 12:35 a.m.

An overnight worker talked to police and told Québecor Média that he was "95% sure" the fire was caused by a cigarette that was lit by a resident who refused to be let outside to smoke less than an hour earlier. He also said that the black smoke that was billowing from above the cracked open door of room 206 on the man's second-floor room. When the worker tried to help, he had "began to suffocate" and needed to leave. On his way out, he was able to rescue a man who had broken his leg by jumping from his balcony. In the fire, an estimated 32 people were killed and 15 people were injured.

Fire safety experts as well as groups such as the Canadian Association of Retired Persons, Ontario Retirement Communities Association, l'Association Québécoise de Défense des Personnes Retraitées et Préretraitées and the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs have called for more strict fire safety measures including required sprinkler installation. As of 2014, 54% of Québec's private homes for the elderly have no sprinklers. The Québec health minister Réjean Hébert suggested that the requirements be more strengthened to put sprinklers into homes for semi-autonomous elderly.

 References 

Category:2010s fires
Category:2014 disasters in Canada
Category:Fires in North America
Category:January 2014 events
Category:2010s in Quebec