The coroner's inquest into the deadly fire that consumed a senior's residence in L'Isle-Verte, killing 32, has begun.
Cyrille Delage, a coroner and the fire investigation commissioner, is leading the investigation into the fire.
Over six days this week and next, Delage expects to hear from the owners of the L'Isle-Verte residence, Irene Plante and Roch Bernier, as well as multiple witnesses and firefighters who were present the night of the fire.
“It’s extremely important that, we get all the information we can,” said L’Isle-Verte Mayor Ursule Theriault.
The fire broke out on the night of Jan. 23, 2014, and destroyed the older portion of the home.
On Monday morning Delage was tough with a building code expert, asking if anyone could make sense of confusing laws brought in over past 15 years.
She said she thought the part that burned to ground was probably in compliance with the Building Codes that existed when it was built in 1997.
Those codes did not require the residence for seniors to have sprinklers, while a newer extension, built in 2002, did have sprinklers.
The deadline to install more safety equipment in the section that burned was two months away.
Richard Michaud, whose cousin died in the fire but whose body has yet to be identified, said the inquest will be useful if it can prevent similar tragedies.
"The goal here is not to find guilt, it's to shine a light on what happened," said Michaud.
Coroner Delage expects to hear from 55 witnesses in an inquest that could take weeks, if not months.
