Extreme temperatures make firefighting difficult in small Canadian town

Photo by Getty Images. Firefighters in L’Isle-Verte douse the icy remains of a nursing home.

Five people are dead and 30 are still unaccounted for after a fire engulfed a nursing home in the small town of L’Isle-Verte, Canada Thursday, the BBC reports. Frigid conditions made containment of the fire extremely difficult and caused a thick layer of ice to form over the building.

With temperatures dipping to 8 degrees below zero, firefighters used steam machines today to free the corpses of the elderly that had become encased in ice. Emergency workers were forced to work in 45-minute shifts due to the intensity of the cold.

The rescuers were able to save 20 of the nursing home’s 52 residents. Majority of the people living at the residence were over 75-years-old and many of those were confined to wheelchairs or dependent on walkers.

Officials said they do not know what caused the fire at this point, and are asking the local residents to turn in any information, including pictures and video, to investigators.