Five people are dead and one is seriously wounded after a fire at a hunting cabin in a nature reserve 70 kilometres northeast of La Tuque, Que., police said.

Police were alerted to the fire shortly before dawn Sunday by a man who had fled the cabin on Lake Escarbot, deep inside the Kiskissink Controlled Exploitation Zone or ZEC (an area reserved for hunting, fishing and recreation).

The fire left five people dead and destroyed a cottage, 170 kilometres north of Trois-Rivières.
(CBC)

A 49-year-old man suffered severe burns to about 20 per cent of his body, but still managed to row across the lake, which took 10 to 15 minutes, said Sgt. Michel Brunet of Quebec's provincial police force.

"Then he took his car and drove about 50 to 70 kilometres before he reached the gate [of the nature reserve]. When he reached the gate he was able to ask for help," Brunet said.

Police identified the victims —all from Montreal — as the man's 26-year-old son, 19-year-old daughter and her 22-year-old boyfriend. The two other victims were the man's 13-year-old stepdaughter and a family friend in his fifties. Autopsies will be performed on the bodies before their identities are officially disclosed.

Police and fire officials had to cross the lake in the remote area, about 170 kilometres north of Trois-Rivières, to reach the cabin in the controlled harvesting area, which is owned by the government but run by members of the ZEC.

The injured man was being treated at a Montreal burn centre.

Brunet said the man told investigators there may have been a problem with a small stove during the night, adding they're combing the wreckage, and are looking at the possibility of faulty heating.