The violent fire which ravaged a residence in Saint-Georges, in Beauce on Friday afternoon could have caused three victims since two people are still missing and according to what the Journal has learned, a third could be added to the sad balance sheet.
• Also read: A house reduced to ashes in Saint-Georges, in Beauce
Saturday noon, the authorities did not want to confirm anything about the results of the research, indicating that other details will be revealed at the end of the afternoon.
Police officers from the Sureté du Québec were at the scene of the fire on Saturday morning to conduct the investigation.
Photo Sarah-Jeanne Tremblay / Le Journal de Québec
According to the latest information from the Sûreté du Québec, firefighters and specialists were still trying to extricate a sixty-year-old and a fifty-year-old who remained trapped in the rubble of the building located on 120th Street.
Explosion
Neighbors say it was an explosion that caused the fire.
“I heard the explosion from my house,” explains a neighbor who lives on 118th Street. The noise was so loud that it was heard from 4th Avenue, she adds.
Debris even ended up across the street.
The neighbor of the burned house, Bernard Quirion, was not at the scene when the fire started. When he arrived on the scene, there were, according to him, around thirty firefighters trying to control the flames, several of them on the roof.
“The house burned within ten minutes!” exclaims Alexandre Campeau, a neighbor who saw the building engulfed in flames. “We no longer saw the house, just flames,” mentions another neighbor.
Looking for his father
According to Mr. Quirion and Mr. Campeau, the owner of the building, Michel Lagueux, rented part of his house to tenants. He often left, according to them.
Earlier today, the daughter of the owner of the house, Myriam Lagueux, came forward on social media. She mentioned in a Facebook post that they [les proches] were still looking for his father. Many people from the municipality and surrounding areas have also shared the post.
Major crime investigators and fire technicians are on scene to shed light on this event.
Remember that dozens of firefighters intervened to fight the flames.
René Leclerc / QMI Agency
The fire was so intense that embers reached the roof of a carpet store across the street. A storage building also caught fire.
René Leclerc / QMI Agency
