Kentville fire claims two lives

The Canadian Red Cross is reporting two fatalities and at least one man left temporarily homeless after a fire early this morning in Kentville.

The four-unit apartment building at 24 Webster Court was extensively damaged in a fire reported around 1 a.m. A local disaster team from the Canadian Red Cross was called to the scene to assist one displaced tenant, who later found a relative to stay with.

The Kentville Fire Department, Kentville Police Service and the Nova Scotia Fire Marshal's Office are investigating the fatalities and cause of the fire.

Speaking Saturday morning at the scene, Kentville fire chief Shawn Ripley said the identities of the two victims were not yet known at that time. He did confirm, however, that both victims were male.

The fire was called in by the tenant of an upstairs apartment who managed to escape without injury.

The occupant of the other upstairs apartment was awakened and rescued by firefighters and also managed to escape.

Ripley agreed the prompt response by firefighters, who had the fire knocked down within minutes of their arrival, and Kentville police likely prevented at least one and possibly two additional fatalities.

Ripley said that three of the four apartments in the buildings were occupied at the time the fire broke out.

Police had tried to gain access to the apartment on fire by breaking down a door, but were prevented from doing so by the intense heat and smoke from the fire.

Once the fire had been brought under control "except for hot spots," a search revealed the bodies of the two victims in one of the downstairs apartments.

While the cause of the fire was still under investigation, Ripley confirmed "it definitely started in the downstairs apartment" where the two victims were found, "which was extensively damaged by fire and heat."

Autopsies were being performed Saturday in Halifax on the two victims.

The building is just a few streets away from the scene of a fire early Tuesday that forced seven people, including three children, from a duplex on Belcher Street.

The Red Cross is called to events like house fires an average of once a day somewhere in the Atlantic provinces, using teams of volunteers who are trained to national standards and are willing to respond 24 hours a day. Its services are provided at no charge thanks to financial donations from the public.

Information on joining the team or supporting its work financially is available online at www.redcross.ca or by

contacting the Kentville office at 678-8554.

- Canadian Red Cross