Residents who live across the street from the vacant building in Charlottetown, P.E.I. where three bodies were found after a fire early Saturday, say it had long been the target of vandals.
Neighbours described their shock to learn that three people died, and a fourth was airlifted to hospital in Halifax, after fire tore through the boarded-up building early Saturday morning.
Reggie Jameson, who lives in a former driving range near the building, said he was awoken by the sound of sirens at approximately 5:30 a.m.
“There’s no power hook ups to it, there’s nothing,” Jameson told The Canadian Press. “There’s three feet of snow in front of it. It never occurred to me that anyone was inside.”
Jameson said that within “two to five minutes the whole building was engulfed.”
“It just kept getting worse and worse as more fire engines showed up,” he said.
Police arrived at the building after an injured man in the area approached an officer on patrol, and warned that more people were inside the building.
“The officer went to the building and attempted to enter but was pushed back by intense heat and smoke,” said Deputy Chief Gary McGuigan.
After the fire was extinguished about two hours later, three bodies were found, McGuigan said.
“I have been a police officer in Charlottetown for 30 years,” McGuigan told CTV News. “I don’t ever recall three people perishing in a fire or any situation, so it’s tragic.”
An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the fire and the identity of the victims.
McGuigan said investigators will remain on the scene into Sunday.
With files from CTV Atlantic and The Canadian Press
