2 bodies found in remains of Que. farmhouse that burned down with two children feared trapped inside
QMI AGENCY
First posted: Friday, February 27, 2015 10:02 AM EST | Updated: Friday, February 27, 2015 02:45 PM EST
GRACEFIELD, Que. — This small town north of Gatineau is in mourning after a devastating fire destroyed a family home and killed two young children Thursday.
“They were great children, they were so polite,” said Manon Piche, a neighbour and family friend, as she surveyed the carnage Friday morning. “It’s such a shame.”
Police have yet to confirm the identity of the two bodies pulled from the rubble late Thursday night, but no one here has any doubt.
It was Piche who found the children’s father, Eric Courtney, slumped in the snow, burned and distraught after trying to rescue daughter Melanie, 2, and son Matthew, 4.
Provincial police are awaiting post-mortem results before confirming the identities of the deceased.
Firefighters, most of them volunteers, spent the morning sifting through the charred debris.
Alexis, Piche’s son, set a teddy bear on the snowbank near the home, as did neighbour Valerie Dubois.
Dubois said there was a big explosion while the fire was burning, then she heard a big crack and the house essentially caved in.
Piche said the Courtneys were in the process of building a new, two-storey home just down the road.
“We can put our hands together and finish that house for them,” she said.
Friends are also setting up a bank account for the family. A friend told QMI Agency the family didn’t have insurance on the dwelling, located about 100 km north of Ottawa.
The cause of the fire is still unknown.
Eric Courtney’s wife Tina escaped the blaze with three-month-old baby William in her arms, screaming to Eric, who was out chopping wood in the brush that surrounds the home.
Eric tried to save Melanie and Matthew, but the intense heat had forced him to escape out a window.
Eric and Tina are the parents of 10 children, according to Piche. The other children were in school when the fire broke out.
Piche said the family suspects the fire started in a stove.
Both parents were taken to hospital in Maniwaki, Que., suffering from shock. William was treated for smoke inhalation and Eric received treatment for his burns.
February has been a tragic month for children’s fire deaths in Canada.
On Wednesday, four young brothers died in a house fire in rural Manitoba.
On Saturday, 12-year-old twins Gabrielle Cormier and Jacob Rondeau died in a blaze in their apartment in Gatineau, Que.
And on Feb. 17, two toddlers died in a house fire on Makwa Sahgaiehcan First Nation in Saskatchewan.
2 bodies found in remains of Que. farmhouse that burned down with two children f
Dad tried to save kids missing in W. Quebec fire
BY AEDAN HELMER, OTTAWA SUN
FIRST POSTED: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015 05:31 PM EST | UPDATED: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2015 09:07 AM EST
As raging flames engulfed his farmhouse, Eric Courtney rushed into the burning house in a desperate attempt to rescue his two young children trapped inside.
His wife, Tina, escaped the blaze with three-month-old baby William in her arms, screaming to her husband, who had been out chopping wood in the brush that surrounds the home at the end of the remote and rural Chemin Eloi Lachapelle, off Hwy. 105 near Gracefield, about 100 km north of Ottawa.
Neighbour Manon Piche spotted the smoke billowing from the home and immediately dialed 911, then rushed to the scene to find Eric Courtney, collapsed from exhaustion and despair, his hands and arms covered in burns. (Scroll down for real-time updates in our news blog)
The intense heat had forced Courtney to flee the flames through a window.
His children, 2-year-old Melanie and 4-year-old Matthew, were still trapped inside.
And as the home collapsed, neighbours said they feared the worst.
“Eric was not in good shape,” Piche lamented.
The woman, who lives just up the lane from the farmhouse, at 60 Chemin Eloi Lachapelle, said she would often babysit young Melanie and Matthew, and said the family was devastated by their loss.
“They were such nice children, they’re so polite. All of the children are wonderful, they all help each other out,” said Piche.
Eric and Tina are the parents of 10 children, according to Piche, and the rest of the kids were in school in nearby Kazabazua when the fire broke out.
Rescue crews arrived shortly after the emergency call was placed at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, but intense flames were still visible more than an hour later.
The home was destroyed, leaving behind a thick plume of smoke that was still rising from the property hours after it ignited.
Piche said the family suspect the fire originated in a stove, though officials with Surete du Quebec were providing few details, and would not confirm the cause.
Police would not confirm the children died in the fire, saying the stubborn blaze kept investigators from doing a proper search of the structure.
Police would only say that two minors were missing.
Both parents were taken to hospital in Maniwaki suffering from shock, with baby William treated for smoke inhalation, and father Eric treated for burns.
February had already been a tragic month for house fires.
On Saturday, 12-year-old twins Gabrielle Cormier and Jacob Rondeau died in a blaze that is believed to have started on a stove in their Marengere St. apartment in Gatineau.
Twitter: @OttSunHelmer
If you cannot view the news blog, click here.
Dad tried to save kids missing in W. Quebec fire | Canada | News | Toronto Sun
QMI AGENCY
First posted: Friday, February 27, 2015 10:02 AM EST | Updated: Friday, February 27, 2015 02:45 PM EST
GRACEFIELD, Que. — This small town north of Gatineau is in mourning after a devastating fire destroyed a family home and killed two young children Thursday.
“They were great children, they were so polite,” said Manon Piche, a neighbour and family friend, as she surveyed the carnage Friday morning. “It’s such a shame.”
Police have yet to confirm the identity of the two bodies pulled from the rubble late Thursday night, but no one here has any doubt.
It was Piche who found the children’s father, Eric Courtney, slumped in the snow, burned and distraught after trying to rescue daughter Melanie, 2, and son Matthew, 4.
Provincial police are awaiting post-mortem results before confirming the identities of the deceased.
Firefighters, most of them volunteers, spent the morning sifting through the charred debris.
Alexis, Piche’s son, set a teddy bear on the snowbank near the home, as did neighbour Valerie Dubois.
Dubois said there was a big explosion while the fire was burning, then she heard a big crack and the house essentially caved in.
Piche said the Courtneys were in the process of building a new, two-storey home just down the road.
“We can put our hands together and finish that house for them,” she said.
Friends are also setting up a bank account for the family. A friend told QMI Agency the family didn’t have insurance on the dwelling, located about 100 km north of Ottawa.
The cause of the fire is still unknown.
Eric Courtney’s wife Tina escaped the blaze with three-month-old baby William in her arms, screaming to Eric, who was out chopping wood in the brush that surrounds the home.
Eric tried to save Melanie and Matthew, but the intense heat had forced him to escape out a window.
Eric and Tina are the parents of 10 children, according to Piche. The other children were in school when the fire broke out.
Piche said the family suspects the fire started in a stove.
Both parents were taken to hospital in Maniwaki, Que., suffering from shock. William was treated for smoke inhalation and Eric received treatment for his burns.
February has been a tragic month for children’s fire deaths in Canada.
On Wednesday, four young brothers died in a house fire in rural Manitoba.
On Saturday, 12-year-old twins Gabrielle Cormier and Jacob Rondeau died in a blaze in their apartment in Gatineau, Que.
And on Feb. 17, two toddlers died in a house fire on Makwa Sahgaiehcan First Nation in Saskatchewan.
2 bodies found in remains of Que. farmhouse that burned down with two children f
Dad tried to save kids missing in W. Quebec fire
BY AEDAN HELMER, OTTAWA SUN
FIRST POSTED: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015 05:31 PM EST | UPDATED: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2015 09:07 AM EST
As raging flames engulfed his farmhouse, Eric Courtney rushed into the burning house in a desperate attempt to rescue his two young children trapped inside.
His wife, Tina, escaped the blaze with three-month-old baby William in her arms, screaming to her husband, who had been out chopping wood in the brush that surrounds the home at the end of the remote and rural Chemin Eloi Lachapelle, off Hwy. 105 near Gracefield, about 100 km north of Ottawa.
Neighbour Manon Piche spotted the smoke billowing from the home and immediately dialed 911, then rushed to the scene to find Eric Courtney, collapsed from exhaustion and despair, his hands and arms covered in burns. (Scroll down for real-time updates in our news blog)
The intense heat had forced Courtney to flee the flames through a window.
His children, 2-year-old Melanie and 4-year-old Matthew, were still trapped inside.
And as the home collapsed, neighbours said they feared the worst.
“Eric was not in good shape,” Piche lamented.
The woman, who lives just up the lane from the farmhouse, at 60 Chemin Eloi Lachapelle, said she would often babysit young Melanie and Matthew, and said the family was devastated by their loss.
“They were such nice children, they’re so polite. All of the children are wonderful, they all help each other out,” said Piche.
Eric and Tina are the parents of 10 children, according to Piche, and the rest of the kids were in school in nearby Kazabazua when the fire broke out.
Rescue crews arrived shortly after the emergency call was placed at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, but intense flames were still visible more than an hour later.
The home was destroyed, leaving behind a thick plume of smoke that was still rising from the property hours after it ignited.
Piche said the family suspect the fire originated in a stove, though officials with Surete du Quebec were providing few details, and would not confirm the cause.
Police would not confirm the children died in the fire, saying the stubborn blaze kept investigators from doing a proper search of the structure.
Police would only say that two minors were missing.
Both parents were taken to hospital in Maniwaki suffering from shock, with baby William treated for smoke inhalation, and father Eric treated for burns.
February had already been a tragic month for house fires.
On Saturday, 12-year-old twins Gabrielle Cormier and Jacob Rondeau died in a blaze that is believed to have started on a stove in their Marengere St. apartment in Gatineau.
Twitter: @OttSunHelmer
If you cannot view the news blog, click here.
Dad tried to save kids missing in W. Quebec fire | Canada | News | Toronto Sun