(Montreal) The body of a fifth victim was recovered late Saturday afternoon from the rubble of the building in Old Montreal that was destroyed by fire more than a week ago.
Posted at 8:27pm
Morgan Lowrie and Johanna Pellus The Canadian Press
Members of the Montreal Fire Department’s technical rescue team made the discovery as they continued their search inside the building based on sketches of the building and information gathered by police officers, Montreal Police Service Officer Véronique Dubuc said.
The body was entrusted to the Forensic Science and Forensic Medicine Laboratory to proceed with the identification of the individual.
Four bodies were found earlier this week. Two people are still missing.
Testimonies from former tenants and victims of the March 16 fire in Old Montreal raise questions about the safety of the premises.
Police and firefighters say it’s too early to determine the cause of the fire. However, witnesses spoke of defective smoke detectors and missing emergency exits.
This isn’t the first time the owner, Emile-Haim Benamor, has had trouble with his tenants.
In 2012, he pleaded before the Régie du Logement (now the Housing Administration Court) to “risks of electrical overload” caused by a tenant in a tenancy termination application against him.
Mr Benamor had claimed the tenant in question had “modified or added” electrical systems and overloaded the building’s circuits.
“The landlord insists that as things stand the building is not viable, he cannot have access to the accommodation, even more so to the various appliances, that there is a risk of fire and they say it is under surveillance insurance, especially as it is is a historic building,” the court decision said.
The owner also called a witness from Lloyd’s insurance company who said the unit had safety issues. In an affidavit accompanying the court ruling, Michel Frigon claimed that the unit was not originally intended as an apartment but as a storeroom. Mr Frigon noted that access to the unit was necessary to perform maintenance on the building’s heating and electrical systems.
“The shower next to the electrical entry to the house poses a real electrocution hazard,” he added, adding that it would likely be necessary to find a new insurer if the problems weren’t resolved.
But in her written decision, Administrative Judge Jocelyne Gascon concluded there was little convincing evidence that the tenant, Piotr Torbicki, was responsible for electrical problems.
“Although the various electrical systems appeared to the tribunal as non-conforming and outdated, the evidence offered did not prove it was a new addition,” she wrote. She did not comment on Mr Benamor’s comments about the fire hazard.
The William Watson Ogilvie Building was constructed in 1890 and originally housed the offices of a flour company. From the late 1960s to the 1980s, it was successively converted for residential use, with an architectural office remaining on the ground floor. Municipal property records indicate that Mr. Benamor, a solicitor, purchased the building in 2009.
Louis-Philippe Lacroix said his 18-year-old daughter Charlie, who is believed to be missing in the fire, called 911 twice within minutes to say she could not leave the unit she was staying in as there was no window or no emergency exit.
One fire survivor, Alina Kuzmina, said that while the unit she rented with her husband in the basement had fire alarms, she had no recollection of hearing them. Ms. Kuzmina escaped from the building by breaking a window.
The owner responded this week through his lawyer, Alexandre Bergevin, saying the alarm system was replaced in 2019 and regularly tested. Regarding the emergency exits, the attorney pointed out that the architecture of the building is complex.
“It has historically always been considered compliant,” he said in a text.
A former tenant spoke on condition of anonymity and said he feared reprisals from Mr Benamor, who owns several buildings in the town. The witness said that in recent years long-term renters have gradually left the premises and their accommodations have become rental units on the Airbnb platform. He also said some units have been subdivided and at least one doesn’t have a window.
Me Bergevin said in an interview on Friday that the short-term rentals in the building are the work of the tenants, not his client. He claimed that a certain person rented seven units in the building and “illegally” listed them on Airbnb. He said Mr Benamor had instructed the guilty person to stop short-term rents and they had reached an agreement that they were to vacate the building by July 1.
“It’s a real scourge, it’s uncontrollable,” Me Bergevin said of Airbnb rentals. “He had doubts about several tenants in several buildings, but it’s quite difficult to prove all that. »
The lawyer acknowledged that one apartment in the building “had no window in the traditional sense” but did have a skylight.
When asked if the smoke detectors were working, he replied, “That’s a great question. We do not know yet. But he argued that there were detectors in all the apartments, that the central detector was working the day before the fire and that it would be surprising if they all failed.
Me Bergevin said he was not aware of any specific electrical issues, including those raised in the 2012 Régie du Logement decision, but noted the building dates from the 19th century.
“It’s definitely not the electricity we know today,” he noted, adding that qualified electricians worked in the building at times when problems arose.
Mr Benamor, he said, was offended at the news that people had died in the blaze.
“Although we have no idea what caused the fire, the People’s Court causes him a lot of mental stress,” he said.