UPDATED: Funeral will be held 11:30 a.m. Monday at St. Andrew’s United Church on Larch Street, not the R.J. Barnard Chapel at the Jackson and Barnard Funeral Home as indicated in an obituary in Thursday’s Sudbury Star. The change was made to accommodate the large number of people expected to attend. The church can hold about 500 compared to the chapel which can only seat about 200.

A charred fridge with its door missing made for a grim image outside a Hanmer apartment complex Wednesday as a forensic engineer carted the appliance away for further analysis.

Ontario Fire Marshal’s office investigator James Allen said both the electric refrigerator and oxygen tanks used by a 59-year-old tenant are being assessed as "potential causes" of Monday’s fire, which resulted in the death of Nicole Belair, a highly regarded social worker.

"We are in absolute mourning today," said Colette Prevost, executive director of the Children’s Aid Society of Sudbury-Manitoulin, during a press conference in Val Therese on Wednesday. "It is devastatingly difficult to think of her being gone."

Belair was resuscitated by paramedics Monday, but succumbed Tuesday to injuries sustained in the fire. She was 33 and engaged to be married next month.

The eight-year employee of the CAS was visiting a 20-year-old client on the second floor of the Hanmer building, said fire officials, when smoke started to billow up from the floor below.

"According to witnesses, both were attempting to go down the stairs," said Trevor Bain, executive deputy chief of fire and paramedic services. "The first girl made it out, but the CAS worker went back the other way."

Bain said the fire department can only speculate as to why Belair turned back into the smoke-filled building, but those who knew her suspect she was trying to rescue another tenant.

"I wouldn’t doubt it for a minute," a former client told The Star. "She was the type of person who puts people ahead of herself."

Allen said the fire originated in the kitchen area of a ground-floor apartment occupied by Diane Paquette, who had returned from grocery shopping and later told neighbours her fridge "blew up." Allen said witnesses reported "hearing a bang."

Paquette suffered "severe burns to her upper torso and head," said Det.-Sgt. Al Asunmaa, and remains in critical condition in a Toronto hospital.

Bain said a fire call was received at 3:31 p.m., and emergency crews were on the scene a little more than 16 minutes later. "We were a bit challenged in our response time because Station 16 (Val Therese) members were responding to a bush fire in the Val Caron area," he said.

In all, "we dispatched from four different stations," including Station 17 in Hanmer, "plus we had the rescue truck out of Station 1, for a total of seven apparatus on the scene," said Bain.

In the lag between the blaze breaking out and the arrival of fire trucks and paramedics, "several civilian persons were already attempting to assist victims and people trapped in the building," said the deputy chief.

Bain said "it’s human nature" to react to a crisis and try to be helpful, so it’s hard to scold anyone for responding. He was pleased that, in this case, the civilian effort was undertaken "in a prudent way" and none of the rescuers was harmed.

Five tenants were rescued by firefighters, said Bain, with several treated for minor smoke inhalation and released. Belair was found unconscious on the second floor and rushed outside, where she was revived by paramedics.

The building met fire code standards, said Allen, and had working alarms and extinguishers.

Bain said the fire itself was suppressed fairly quickly, but smoke and hot gases rushed through the hallway and up a flight of stairs, in part because the fleeing tenant left her door open and also because doors elsewhere in the building were propped open.

"People wedge doors in hallways," he said. "They are there for a reason, as fire doors, but in this case the heat and smoke from the apartment of origin was able to migrate through the hall and upstairs."

It is rarely the flames from a fire that are deadly, he noted. "It’s the products of combustion and inhaling the hot gases. That is what kills people."

Prevost said the loss of Belair is being felt well beyond the Children’s Aid Society itself. "She built incredibly strong bonds with youth in the community," she said.

Wednesday, when most learned of the death of the selfless social worker, also happened to be Child and Youth in Care Day, a time set aside in Ontario to recognize "the enormous contributions that current and former Crown and society wards make to the province," according to bill legislating the observance.

Prevost said it was "ironic, but also fitting" to be talking about the legacy of Belair on such an occasion. "Nicole was a conduit to the successes of so many youth in our community," she said. "She was important in their lives and will be remembered as the person who made a difference, who challenged youth to move forward and, above all, demonstrated what can happen when you care enough for children and youth."

Pretty and athletic, Belair ran in the Sudbury Rocks race on Sunday, and was engaged to Steve Davidson, a manager at Eastlink.

"She was the love of my life," Davidson commented on The Star’s website. "We were to be married on the 28th of June. My life is lost without you."

Prevost described Belair as "a very endearing person, someone who engaged you."

Det.-Sgt. Asunmaa said a coroner’s investigation is being carried out, with a post-mortem set for today, but "at this time we don’t believe any criminality" pertains to the incident.

Prevost said the Children’s Aid Society is "respecting Nicole’s family and partner at this time" but expect to do something in the next few weeks to honour their colleague and "highlight the importance she had for the community and all the individuals she worked with."

On Wednesday, staff of the agency remained shaken, in disbelief. "We’re all reeling from the shock of this," said Prevost.

A funeral for Belair is scheduled for Monday at 11:30 a.m., with visitation Sunday.

jim.moodie@sunmedia.ca