Mississauga house fire leaves woman and man dead, 2 others injured

A woman and her three adult children lived in the Mississauga house where a fire broke out early Tuesday morning that left two people dead and two others injured, neighbours have told CP24.

The neighbours and a family member identified one of the victims as Alice Kret. Jim Detienne, who lives in the neighbourhood, said Alice resided at the home on Bromsgrove Road, near Winston Churchill Boulevard and Royal Windsor Drive, for over 40 years.

Detienne added that Alice lived with her two sons and a daughter. He said his heart “aches” for Alice, and “that’s where all my thoughts are.”

The other person who died in the fire has not been identified.

The fire broke out at around 3 a.m.

“We arrived on scene. Our firefighters reported heavy flames, heavy smoke, high heat conditions in the home,” Mississauga Fire Chief Deryn Rizzi told reporters outside the home Tuesday.

“They reported two people who had self-evacuated the home on the front lawn. They had significant injuries. They were transported by Peel paramedics.”

Rizzi added that crews were able to rescue two people from inside the residence, and both also sustained significant injuries. Paramedics told CP24 that those two patients, an elderly woman and a middle-aged man, were vital signs absent when they were taken to hospital.

Police confirmed that the two patients pulled from the home later died in hospital.

“It is with profound sadness that we advise that this has been a fatal fire,” Rizzi told reporters.

The two other victims – a man and a woman – remain in the hospital. The female victim, police said, is currently in critical condition, while the man sustained only minor injuries.

On Tuesday morning, crews confirmed that a dog and a cat were also rescued from the home following the fire, but the dog did not survive.

Rizzi initially said that she believed the fire was “suspicious in nature” and that the investigation into the cause and origin would be transferred to Peel Regional Police.

“Our firefighters when they went into the home and were doing the search of the home, they observed multiple points of origin for the fire and that is always suspicious for us so we have escalated this to the police,” Rizzi said.

But on Tuesday afternoon, Jim Gillespie, an investigator with the Office of the Fire Marshal (OFM), said so far he has not found any indication that the fire is supsicious.

“At first glance, it could be interpreted that there may be more than one area of origin of this fire, but once you look at it and you look at the fire spread, it is my opinion that there is one area of origin,” Gillespie said.

“We won’t know until we are completely done, but right now, there is nothing telling me that this is a suspicious fire.”

The blaze, he said, is believed to have started on the main floor of the home and then spread to the basement.

Gillespie said so far, he has not found any evidence of working smoke detectors.