Mother and 2 children ID'd as victims of deadly Hamilton fire; 7 others injured

A mother and her two children have been identified as the people killed in a fire that engulfed one home and damaged another in Hamilton early Saturday morning.

A family member identified Victoria Maire, her son Robert and daughter Abigail as the deceased to CBC News. Their deaths prompted an outpouring of grief on social media Saturday.

Brittney Thorne, a cousin of Maire's boyfriend, said she received the tragic news in a phone call from her mother this morning, asking her to watch one of Maire's sons, who is around four years old.

"It's tragic. Right now I'm watching the one boy and he just keeps asking for his mom, his sister, his cat and his dog," Thorne said. 

"It's sad to have to answer for that."

Firefighters received a call about a house fire at 70 Niagara St. at 4:30 a.m. It spread to a neighbouring house at 74 Niagara St. within an hour of firefighters arriving on scene, said Claudio Mostacci, spokesman for the Hamilton fire department.

Maire and the children were initially considered missing, but their bodies were discovered once the fire had been extinguished, he said.

Three dead in early morning fire in Hamilton

8 years ago

Duration 0:49

A fire that engulfed two homes in Hamilton has killed three people and injured seven others, the Hamilton Fire Department said Saturday.

The Office of the Fire Marshal is working to determine where the fire started, its cause, whether the homes had working smoke alarms, and if so, where the smoke alarms were located. It is gathering statements from witnesses.

Thorne says the three were in the attic at the time of the blaze and investigators are looking into the role that a pot of grease left on the stove may have played.

"The scene that firefighters encountered was heavy fire, so they were only able to access just a portion of the home and therefore they were not able to do a complete search," Mostacci said.

Lonnie Schubert, spokesperson for the Ontario Office of the Fire Marshal, said the investigation is in its early stages.

"I don't want to speculate on how the fire started," he said. "The deceased were located visually. The task now is to remove them safely."

Eleven people were in the first home at the time of the blaze. Thorne says all were related. 

Seven of those individuals were taken to hospital but two were not treated, according to the Hamilton Paramedic Service.

Three adults and two children were taken to McMaster University Medical Centre at 5:30 a.m., suffering from a combination of smoke inhalation and burns. 

Four of the injured have already been released and all of the injured were out of the house when firefighters arrived, Mostacci said.

Emergency officials are preparing to go back into the burned out home to recover the bodies, he said. 

The fire department said in a news release that firefighters arrived before the fire had spread to the second home. No one was inside that home at the time of the fire.

Although extra resources were brought into fight the fire from inside, Mostacci said conditions became unsafe and crews had to be pulled out. Both fires were battled from the outside. 

Power has been cut to the homes involved in the fire and a few cars were towed because the first home is no longer structurally sound and firefighters need access to the building.

Damage is estimated at $200,000 at 70 Niagara St. and $50,000 at 74 Niagara St.

Thorne has set up a Go Fund Me account to help cover funeral costs for Maire and her two children.