Tormented because they were not able to save the child

News 4 January, 2018
  • Photo courtesy
    On the images of a surveillance camera, we see Maxime Lefebvre, who had raised Carmine Zappia to reach the window of the room where stood Thomas Livernoche.

    Amélie St-Yves

    Thursday, January 4, 2018 00:09

    UPDATE
    Thursday, January 4, 2018 00:09

    Look at this article

    THREE RIVERS | Five friends gathered together to celebrate the New Year are still in shock two days after everything is done to save a toddler of 3 years old, died in a fire.

    Carmine Zappia had invited four friends for dinner at the raclette on the 1st of January to celebrate the new year in his apartment of the rue Massicotte, Trois-Rivières.

    The five friends in their twenties have heard a cry for help at around 00: 30 a.m., in the night of Monday to Tuesday.

    “I looked through a window, and I saw my two neighbours in the blood who came with us,” says Carmine Zappia, 28 years.

    Johannie Livernoche and Gaëtan Massicotte had to jump out of the window of the second floor of the house they were renting. They were almost naked and were cut in several places.

    Photo courtesy

    Tommy-William Nadeau-Paradis and Maxime Lefebvre

     

    Whirlwind of fire

    Their son, Thomas Livernoche, 3 years, was still trapped in an inferno.

    Since the events, the friends have difficulty sleeping and feel constantly the victims and their families. They know that they would not have been able to do more, but wondered all the same if they would not have been able to save the child.

    “The lady kept saying that her baby was at the top, next to the window from which they jumped,” says Mr. Zappia.

    One of the friends of the group, Tommy-Williams Nadeau-Paradise, then rushed to contact the emergency services while Mr Zappia, Marco Gignac and Maxime Lefebvre drove to the burning house to try to save little Thomas.

    Mr Zappia broke the window of the front door to fetch the boy. His friend Marco Gignac followed him inside.

    They could not, however, go upstairs, where the child was to be located.

    “I saw a whirlwind of flames that would come out of the stairs,” said Mr Zappia.

    photo taken from Facebook

    Little Thomas Livernoche, 3 years old, perished in the burning of the family home. His parents, Johannie Livernoche and Gaëtan Massicotte, have jumped from a second story window.

     

    They have not had the choice of coming out to not leave their skin too.

    Once outside, Maxime Lefebvre has raised Carmine Zappia making the short ladder to try to reach the window where the small was, but to no avail. The scene was filmed by a surveillance camera.

    “It does not stop slipping and I injured my hand because I had broken the glass in the door “, laments Mr Zappia.

    During this time, Roxanne Turcotte has taken refuge at the house of Mr. Zappia with two parents for their first aid.

    She went in the bathroom with Ms. Livernoche to try to stop the blood flowing from multiple cuts.

    “She wanted to see his guys. She said that she could not live without him. It was horrible, ” she said.

    Photo courtesy

    Carmine Zappia, Roxanne Turcotte and Marco Gignac are still reeling from the death of the toddler.

     

    Tormented

    During this time, the father was in a panic. He entered the apartment to see his wife and was soon to go see the fire.

    “We are all a little tormented by what happened, but all the world has done its best,” says Roxanne Turcotte.

    The police of Three Rivers Wednesday confirmed that smoking is the cause of the fire.