A fire tore through a senior citizens’ home in French-speaking Quebec, Canada; At least three people are dead but 30 more are missing, and most of them are seniors known to have Alzheimer's disease and limited mobility.  The Prime Minister is preparing his country for the news to get worse.

“We can keep some hope for those unaccounted for, but there's very little doubt that the loss of life is considerable,” PM Stephen Harper said from the World Economic Forum in Davos of the disaster in the town of L’Isle-Verte.

The massive fire in the three-story building broke out around 12:30 am, while the temperature outside was -20 degrees Celsius, and it raged through the night.  Firefighters arrived within eight minutes of getting the alarm and several fire departments in the region were called in to help.  Intense flames prevented them from conducting a full evacuation.  The recovery search was further hampered because the building was shrouded in ice.

Opened in 1997, the Residence du Havre was built entirely of wood.  Parts of the building had sprinklers, while others didn't.  The sprinklers did work in the areas where they were installed, giving firefighters access to a third of the building.