“People sent him into a river, in a rowboat, when he couldn’t even swim. At the end of the line, the anger and pain of the father of Christopher Lavoie, one of the two firefighters missing in Saint-Urbain, are palpable.
“He is a volunteer firefighter with the aim of putting out fires or responding to emergency situations, but not to leave in a boat in similar conditions,” exclaims Davy Lavoie in an interview with The Press. Her son Christopher, 24, had been a volunteer firefighter for a year and a half. “He loved this job,” he says.
PHOTO FROM FACEBOOK
Christopher Lavoie, 24 years old
Around 2 p.m. Monday, Christopher and his colleague Régis Lavoie, 55, were swept away while trying to help residents struggling with flooding in Saint-Urbain, a small town half an hour north of Baie-Saint-Paul.
The distraught father cannot help wondering how such a tragedy could have happened. “There is no policeman or even the army who would have [lancé] in such a river,” he said, his voice charged with emotion. “I understand my son’s adrenaline rush, but how influenced was he in these decisions? Who is going to take responsibility for all this? »
He knows that the chances of finding his boy alive are slim. “There is very little chance that he will be snagged on a branch, not to mention hypothermia. »
It’s very likely that he won’t come back. He died a hero.
Davy Lavoie, father of Christopher
A shaken community
“I am so shaken. They are volunteer firefighters. All they want is to help their fellow citizens,” said the mayoress of Saint-Urbain, Claudette Simard.
The one who has represented the City for 36 years, as a municipal councilor then mayor, speaks of the tragedy that has occurred in the community as an “unprecedented” situation. Swelled by an influx of rain of rare intensity and by the sudden melting of snow in the mountains, the Gros Bras and Petit Bras rivers, two tributaries of the Gouffre river which crosses Saint-Urbain, came out of their beds in just a few hours.
The two volunteer firefighters were surprised by the violence of nature as they assisted residents stuck in their homes, explains the mayor.
“The water rose very quickly. Otherwise it’s obvious [que les pompiers] would not have gone to take them out, ”describes Claudette Simard on the phone.
To fight fires or intervene in emergency situations, municipalities in Quebec call on volunteer firefighters. These citizens work on call and generally have another occupation. Depending on the locality, they are paid or voluntary and do not all have the same training.
“We always have hope”
The search started Monday by the Sûreté du Québec (SQ), with the support of the Canadian Armed Forces, continued all day Tuesday.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, THE PRESS
A Canadian Armed Forces helicopter participating in the search on Monday
About twenty patrollers on foot and in all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), a helicopter, boats, a drone and divers have been deployed by the police force for this purpose, said a spokeswoman for the SQ, Béatrice d ‘Orsainville, at a press conference alongside the Minister of Public Security, François Bonnardel, in Baie-Saint-Paul.
“We always keep hope, and of course for the families, different scenarios can be envisaged, [mais] at the moment, we still have hope, ”she explained.
According to André Bourassa, acting vice-president of the Quebec Federation of Fire Safety Stakeholders, it is possible that firefighters across the province will develop trauma following the tragedy in Saint-Urbain. “There may be firefighters, in municipalities very similar to the one where the accident occurred, who will now be very afraid to intervene,” he told AFP. The Press.