LEVIS, QUE. -- A 48-year-old woman and a 70-year-old man died in a house fire Friday night in Levis, on the South Shore across from Quebec City.
A neighbour called emergency services around 9:27 p.m. reporting that flames were coming out of the house located on Sainte-Thérèse St., said the Levis Police Department (SPVL).
The woman said she did not know if anyone was inside, but did not see anyone leaving the house and did not see anyone outside.
"When police arrived on the scene, they were informed by other neighbours that a window above the carport overlooked a room where someone usually sleeps," said SPVL spokesperson Maxime Pelletier. "The police decided to climb the carport to see if there was anyone inside, and indeed, they saw a man lying down. They decided to smash the window to rescue the sleeping man. When the officers broke the window, the individual woke up. They managed to get him out of the house almost in extremis and then brought him down."
Firefighters then worked to put out the blaze and later discovered two bodies inside the residence. One was on the second floor and the other on the first floor.
A house fire in Levis, Quebec took the lives of two people on July 16, 2021. SOURCE: Guillaume Grenier/SPIL
Fire investigators are working to determine the cause of the fire, which is still unknown.
Police say, however, that nothing points to foul play at this time.
Police also do not know if a working smoke detector was installed in the home, but believe it was, as an alarm similar to the detectors continued to sound in the morning.
-- this report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on July 17, 2021.
