The search continued Friday for three people who remain unaccounted for after flames tore through a Brampton home early Thursday morning, killing two and sending four others to hospital.
A two-year-old child and two adults are among the missing.
The structure is currently being slowly and meticulously demolished in an attempt to preserve any potential evidence.
In an update Friday, Peel Regional Police Const. Tyler Bell said it’s too early to speculate on what caused the fire, or if there was anything suspicious about it.
“Our concern is that there are three people outstanding who are inside the residence at this point,” he said.
In total 11 people were associated with the residence. Bell said most of them were part of a multi-generational family who called the address home.
“What we’ve been able to ascertain is that we believe there are two individuals that were in a basement unit of the residence. The nine, what we are think are nine individuals, are part of a multi-generational family. They are all related in some capacity to what extent I don’t know yet.”
Emergency crews were called to the home on Banas Way in the McLaughlin and Remembrance roads area just before 2:45 a.m. Video shared with CityNews showed the semi-detached house engulfed in flames as fire crews arrived on scene.
Of the four people who were hospitalized, Bell said an adult male’s condition has worsened and he is now in critical condition.
The three others are stable, including a five-year-old who Bell said is “doing well” and his pregnant mother.
Home was not licensed for multiple tenants: Mayor Brown
Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, meanwhile, 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 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.”