Embassy Called for Instructions : Consulate Bars Firemen, 3 Cubans Die

While consular officials kept firefighters away, three Cubans died in a blaze that heavily damaged their consulate overnight. Police said today the officials kept the firemen away for 15 minutes while the Cubans telephoned their embassy in Ottawa for permission to let them in.

The fire Tuesday night was believed to have started on the top floor of the four-story mansion, where the bodies of the one woman and two men were found in separate rooms.

“It looked like they died trying to put out the fire,” said the district fire chief, Guy Lafortune.

The names and occupations of the dead were not released, and Consul-General Lourdes Urrutia, who took up her post only last week, refused to speak to reporters.

The blaze took 100 firefighters more than three hours to bring under control. Its cause was under investigation.

By the time the firefighters were allowed to enter the building on the slopes of Mt. Royal, the fire was out of control.

“There was nobody to answer the door,” said Lafortune, the first senior fireman on the scene. “They weren’t expecting us because nobody (at the consulate) had called an alarm and everybody in the building was upstairs fighting the fire.”

Neighbors Spot Smoke

Police Sgt. Ulrich Pilon said security guards in a nearby luxury apartment building had reported smoke coming from the consulate’s roof.

“After we talked with the consul and she checked with her officials in Ottawa, they let the firemen in,” Pilon said.

“The consul agreed to let our men in as long as we did not enter certain areas of the building. Men were stationed at certain doors to keep us away,” Lafortune said.

He said he saw about a dozen guns of various kinds on the walls inside.