Five people are now confirmed dead from a Brampton house fire after more remains were discovered inside the charred wreckage over the weekend, Peel Regional Police confirmed on Monday morning.
Const. Tyler Bell said three women, a toddler, and a newborn baby, have all died as a result of the fire.
Two were discovered in the home upon an initial search last Thursday — a grandmother in her 50’s and a 27-year-old woman.
Two others — a 29-year-old mother and her two-year-old son — were found in subsequent searches over the last three days
Four more remain in hospital, in stable condition.
Among the hospitalized is a pregnant woman whose baby was delivered via caesarian section. The baby later passed away, marking the fire’s fifth victim, Bell confirmed from the scene on Banas Way in the McLaughlin and Remembrance roads area.
“Sadly, one of the patients at hospital was pregnant, she underwent surgery, delivered that baby and that baby has since passed,” he said.
A third person previously deemed unaccounted for after the fire, is safe, police said. He is the husband of the pregnant woman whose baby died, and the father of a five-year-old boy also injured in the fire.
Despite initial fears, police now confirm he was out of town on business at the time of the fire.
Bell said there was a “a delay in verifying his whereabouts” which initially led to him being considered missing inside the burned home.
In total, 11 people were associated with the residence.
Bell earlier said most of them were part of a multi-generational family who called the address home.
Of the four still in hospital, Bell said their conditions are considered stable and the five-year-old boy is “doing well.”
Bell said that while the investigation into the cause of the deadly blaze would be lengthy, so far there is “nothing to indicate criminality.”
Ontario Fire Marshal, Jon Pegg, said fire alarms were found inside the home, but it’s not year clear if they were functional. That will be part of the ongoing probe.
Emergency crews were called to the home on Banas Way just before 2:45 a.m. on November 20. Video shared with CityNews showed the semi-detached house engulfed in flames as fire crews arrived on scene.
Home was not licensed for multiple tenants: Mayor Brown
In an update last week, Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown called the home’s owner an “absentee landlord” who didn’t follow up with city-mandated inspections and wasn’t licensed to have that many people living under one roof.
“In recent years, the homeowner who is an absentee landlord (and) is out of the country for an extended period, submitted a building permit application to create a second dwelling unit in the basement,” he explained on Thursday.
Brown said the City ordered work to be completed, but alleges the owner failed to follow up on the required inspections.
“It resulted in an order to comply being issued on the property,” Brown said. “The city followed established processes and took additional measures to follow up on required work.”
“I would note this is not licensed to have multiple tenants,” he added. “All those details will come out as the investigation occurs.”
Speaking generally, Brown called the issue of landlords skirting local bylaws “infuriating.”
“We’ve had units that there’s 25 individuals living in it, and I’ve said, ‘I don’t want to get a call from the fire chief about another tragedy.’”
“I hope we don’t have to hear about another tragedy like this.”
