Quebec provincial police say they are investigating the death of a 75-year-old woman who died after being struck in the head by a fire hose.

Anita Maskin, a Boisbriand resident, died June 10 while watching a house fire in the Montreal suburb.

Maskin's family is demanding answers about the freak accident, but police say it will be weeks before they can shed light on the incident.

Her husband Robert, 78, said they were having lunch with their rabbi in his home in Boisbriand when they wandered outside to watch firefighters working on a nearby house fire.

Anita Maskin went to stand with the crowd when a fire hose disconnected from a nearby hydrant and whipped her in the skull.

She was taken to hospital by ambulance and later pronounced dead.

Maskin's family said the fire and local police department have yet to contact them to explain what happened.

Her son Arvin — a lawyer in Manhattan — said the silence has made grieving difficult. "The result has been devastating to my father," he said on the weekend. "My parents are inseparable, the whole family is devastated."

Maskin said he's ready to launch his own investigation into the death if police aren't more forthcoming.

"We're going to have to understand [what happened], and we will commit whatever resources necessary to get to the bottom of this," he said.

Boisbriand police asked their provincial counterparts to take over the investigation, but the process will take weeks, said provincial police spokesman Marc Butz.

"We have to meet with all of the firefighters on the scene and all the witnesses, and after that, we have to analyze all the evidence," he said. "Then we have to [draw] conclusions."

The Maskins moved to Boisbriand from Miami Beach in 2004 to work on a low-cost housing project for the town's small ultra-orthodox Jewish community of Tosh, the Montreal Gazette reported.