A retirement home in Hawkesbury, Ont. where an elderly couple died in a fire Friday night did not have a sprinkler system installed, the president of the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs said Saturday.
The tragedy comes a day after a coroner's jury released recommendations in a fatal retirement home fire in Orillia, Ont. in 2009 that claimed the lives of four people and left six critically injured.
Among the 39 recommendations made by the Orillia coroner's jury was that sprinkler systems be retroactively installed in all long-term care facilities.
"The two fatalities and injuries in a non-sprinklered retirement home further identifies the necessity to mandate this important improvement as soon as possible," Chief Kevin Foster said in a news release.
Foster said the jury's sprinkler recommendation is the fourth time since 1980 an inquest reached the same conclusion.
In Ontario, sprinkler systems are only required in long-term care facilities built after 1997. This means that an estimated 4,000 seniors' homes built before 1997 may be vulnerable to fire hazards.
Other jury suggestions included mandating smoke detectors in all retirement home bedrooms, and automatic devices for opening and closing doors throughout all senior care facilities.
The Hawkesbury blaze broke out around 9:30 p.m. at Place Mont-Roc home, about 100 kilometres east of Ottawa.
The victims have been identified as Anne-Marie Bonin, 84, and Jean-Paul Bonin, 87. They were married for 60 years.
Bonnie Quan, a volunteer at the home, said she would miss the well-liked couple.
"They were in love," Quan told CTV Ottawa. "If he even looked at another woman just for the fun of it, she'd say ‘No no no.' And he'd say, ‘No, I love you.'
A number of other residents were taken to hospital as a precaution, while others were moved to a nearby retirement home, or put in contact with family.
Two firefighters were also injured. One was taken to hospital for heat exhaustion, but has since been released.
CTV Ottawa reporter Vanessa Lee said the fire started on the third floor.
"Residents have not been able to return since fire crews were called last night," she told CTV News Channel in an interview from Hawkesbury on Saturday.
The fire may have started in a sofa, but there was also a major thunderstorm in eastern Ontario Friday, Lee said.
"So there's also speculation that perhaps a lightening bolt hit the air conditioning unit that would have been in this couple's room," she said.
Ontario Provincial Police said that may be a possibility, but at this point it's too early to pinpoint a cause, Lee said.
Hawkesbury Fire Chief Ghislain Pigeon told reporters the facility had recently been expected and was up to code. The building did not require a sprinkler system.
"It was not a requirement when it was built and it is still not a requirement for this classification of building," Pigeon said.
Pigeon said that given the strength of the fire, there could very well have been more fatalities.
"It's intense heat, floor to ceiling, and black smoke," Pigeon said. "That's what we met at the corridors of the third floor."
The Ontario Fire Marshal has been called in to investigate.
With a report from CTV's Omar Sachedina and Vanessa Lee
