Quebec announces new sprinkler requirements for seniors' residences

The Quebec government is making automatic sprinklers mandatory in most seniors' residences following the coroner's report into the L'Isle-Verte tragedy.

Labour Minister Sam Hamadmade the announcement Tuesdayin Quebec City.

"After L'Isle-Verte, we had the obligation to act to make sure such a tragedy never happens again," Hamadsaid.

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• L'IsleVerte: Fire prompts call for mandatory sprinklers

Hamad said residences without sprinkler systems will have five years to install them. The province will provide up to $260 million in financial aid to help with the upgrades.

There are some exceptions.

Seniors' homes that accommodate a maximum of nine people and facilities with only one floor that do not include more than eight lodgings will be exempt from the new rules, he said.

The coroner's report, released Feb. 12,looked into thefactors that contributed to the deaths of 32 peopleafter a fire swept through a seniors' residence inL'Isle-Verte, Que., last January.

The wing of the Rsidence du Havrethat burned to the ground was not equipped with automaticsprinklers.

Making them mandatory was one ofCoronerCyrilleDelge's key recommendations.

Delgehad strong words last week for some owners of seniors' residences and politicians whom he said might be angry his recommendations will cost money, as retrofitting older homes withsprinklerscan be quite costly.

"Let them (be angry) up until the moment that another disaster like this one happens again,"he said.

"They'll have to explain to their constituents why they did nothing."

On Monday, the Quebec Association of Fire Chiefssaidit agrees with many of the recommendations outlined in the report and urged the province to take swift action.