Montreal's Ambulances Not Called Right Away For Boy In Burning Building

MONTREAL (CP) -- No ambulance was waiting to scoop up a young fire victim found holding his teddy bear in his top bunk bed because fire officials didn't immediately call one.

The terrified boy had run back into the burning building early Wednesday while he was being led out by his father.

``I had him by the tip of my finger but he was afraid, turned away and hid,'' said Eric Guay, the nine-year-old boy's distraught father. ``I couldn't get him in time.''

The Montreal fire department was under criticism Wednesday because an ambulance wasn't called to the scene until the boy was carried from the burning building about a half-hour after the fire started.

Normally the citywide ambulance service _ Urgence sante _ is called once a fire is determined to have potential victims.

But a fire official said Urgence sante wasn't notified right away because it had been accidentally deleted from a call list at the fire department dispatch centre when the list was manually updated this week to reflect shift changes.

``It was a weakness in the system,'' Jacques Proteau, an assistant chief of operations, told a news conference.

Proteau said it was an oversight and not a computer glitch.

The rest of the family, including the boy's four-year-old sister, managed to escape the blaze in their third-floor apartment in the city's east end.

``The boy was found in his bed with his teddy bear,'' Proteau said.

Firefighters did cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the boy when he was brought out of the building but he was declared dead in hospital. Both firefighters in a command post and police on the scene called for an ambulance when the boy was brought out.

An internal investigation of the incident is being conducted by the fire department. The police arson squad is investigating the fire because there was a death.

Neighbours criticized firefighters Wednesday for apparently not rushing in to save the boy.

``They were outside with us,'' said Gaetan Paquin. ``I told a firefighter with a red hat and oxygen mask there was a boy on the top floor and he said, `We're dealing with it.' ''

But fire department spokesmen said firefighters acted properly and aren't sure they could have saved the boy given the severity of the fire, which engulfed the third floor where the boy was with withering heat and dense smoke.

``Apparently it was very, very hot,'' said Jean-Pierre Laporte, a district chief.

``The firefighters did an excellent job of doing what they had to do. Some firefighters were burned trying to rescue the victim.''

He explained firefighters conduct systematic searches in residential fires, looking in each room and closet for victims. Rescuers didn't know exactly where the boy was when they entered the burning building.

``By the time they found the young kid, I think it was a bit late. We're never going to be able to say for sure. From what I was told, he was found pulseless and breathless.

``A high percentage of the gases that come off a fire are carbon monoxide, which is a very dangerous gas that can take your life like this,'' he said, snapping his fingers.

Officials with Urgence sante initially blamed the delay on the fire department computer system.

``We were on scene in eight minutes (after being called) but just to get exactly next to the patient took us another two-three minutes just trying to go zig-zagging around in between the trucks and backing onto a street that was encumbered by some fire trucks,'' said Andre Champagne, an ambulance service spokesman.

He said the ambulance attendants were even criticized by the crowd because they weren't already there.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known although there were reports it started in a lamp in the boy's apartment and spread quickly.

The boy's parents were also taken to hospital in shock and a firefighter was treated for smoke inhalation.