By Keith Lacey
The bodies of the victims of the April 22. 2001 fire in Hanmer were found in the basement.
The jury listening to inquest testimony regarding the deaths of Asha-Jade McLean, 3, her brother Ellias McLean, 4, and their great-grandmother Pearl Shaw, 75, were told the victims had fallen through a large piece of flooring on the main floor near the kitchen and a bedroom.
After fire crews extinguished the fire at 4141 Roy St., senior staff assembled a team of four volunteer Valley East firefighters to try and recover the bodies.
The team was made up of volunteer firefighters Bruno Noel, Brian Smith, Richard Beaulieu and Andy Scott. All four testified Wednesday at a coroner?s inquest into the fatal fire 16 months ago.
All four experienced firefighters testified they knew there would be deaths because the fire was so intense and out of control.
"I personally felt if there were people in the house, there was no chance of them being found alive," Smith, an experienced volunteer fire captain with the Valley East Fire Department, said. "This was a recovery mission."
At the fire scene, Smith said he found several windows had been knocked out and this only contributed to intensifying the fire.
The inquest has heard some desperate neighbours knocked out windows believing it would get oxygen to the people trapped inside.
"Knocking out the windows created a chimney effect," said Smith. "The problem is heat rises and it feeds the fire."
Several firefighters reported the main floor was spongy and about to give in and that?s when the decision was made to get all firefighters outside and battle the blaze from the exterior only, said Smith.
"There was no realistic chance of a rescue," he said. "We knew there would be fatalities."
The inquest continues today before taking a one-week break next week. The inquest is expected to wrap up the week of Sept. 9.
