Peel District Police say emergency crews were called to a home on Conestoga Drive, near Sutter Avenue, Kennedy Road and Sandalwood Parkway East, at 1:57 p.m. for fire reports. Brampton Fire Chief Bill Boyes said the fire eventually reached three alarms and crews were exposed to dense smoke and intense flames on arrival. They attempted an “aggressive internal attack”, but were initially forced to return and then entered the house when it was safe. They managed to get four people out of the house, but later it was found that all of them were dead. A fifth victim was found dead inside the house during a search. The Boyes said they believed the two dead adults were the parents of three children aged 6, 8 and 11 who also died. “They are upset, they wanted to do what they could, they risked their lives to go to this fire and get these people out, unfortunately it was a terrible result,” Boyes said of firefighters rescuing the scene. “They are cracked.” They found a sixth adult victim outside the house who went out on his own and were rushed to Sunnybrook Hospital for treatment of critical injuries. Two other people left the house unharmed. Firefighters continued their internal search for several hours after arriving at the scene for the first time. The fire in the house was not extinguished for several hours and the Fire Department was called to investigate what caused the fire. Police closed Conestoga Drive between Sandalwood Parkway East and Cranmore Court to make way for firefighters to deal with the blaze. The Boyes said they would look into the condition of the house’s fire and smoke detectors as part of the investigation.
