Labrador town grieves 3 fire deaths

A small town in northern Labrador is reeling after its second fatal incident this month, with three people killed in a weekend house fire.

A Nain man in his fifties and his two small grandchildren  — aged two and four — were killed when a fast-moving fire devoured a house in the close-knit Inuit community.

The tragedy follows a July 9 drowning that claimed the life of a nine-year-old boy.

"It's quite tragic. Everybody's affected by this," said RCMP Const. Steve Conohan.

He said volunteer firefighters felt helpless because the heat in Saturday's house fire was so intense they could not immediately enter the building.

A woman escaped from the fire and called for help around 7:45 p.m.

"Nain being a small coastal community, any time fire happens in a small community like that, the entire community is impacted. To have the loss of three people from the same family is especially tragic, especially since there are two young persons involved."

The fire leapt to a nearby house and destroyed it also. No one was in the second house at the time.

"The fire … completely destroyed the residence. There's nothing left," said RCMP Sgt. Wayne Newell.

Emergency crews spent Sunday putting out hotspots in the rubble. RCMP forensics investigators were en route to Nain to examine the scene.

Conohan said the volunteer firefighters were deeply affected by Saturday night's fire.

"As a volunteer firefighter, you come to a fire scene, your first inclination is to try and help whoever may be trapped," Conohan said.

"It must definitely affect you if you can't get in there."

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.