Valérie Plante said she was “tremendously concerned” on Tuesday when she learned that Montreal firefighters had ceased to enforce the regulations on emergency exits in buildings in the metropolis from 2018.
Before the city council, the mayor confirmed that a “moratorium” on inspections concerning evacuation routes had been “put in place” that year at the Montreal Fire Department (SIM). Reason: the evidence produced by SIM inspectors was sometimes not sufficient to bring delinquent owners to justice.
“We really want to shed light on this situation because it’s not what we want,” continued M.me Plant, Tuesday. “Security, we must not skimp with that. For our administration, it is absolutely fundamental and essential, just as it is for the SIM. »
It’s the Globe and Mail who lifted the veil on the situation on Tuesday. The daily reported that an internal memo from 2018 announces to employees a suspension of “requests for expertise” in connection with the regulations on the possibilities of evacuation. According to two sources in the newspaper, this interruption led to a halt in evacuation inspections.
THE Globe and Mail understands that this moratorium was suspended without fanfare in the wake of the fire at Place D’Youville, which killed seven people in March.
On Tuesday, the mayor of Montreal explained that according to information received by her team, the moratorium had rather ended in March.
Mme Plante was questioned about this situation by the leader of the opposition, Aref Salem.
“The situation is really serious,” Salem said. “Apparently, it is the lack of training of the teams of investigators who are supposed to identify security gaps that would explain the implementation of the moratorium. We are talking here about a lack of training. »