LA MALBAIE | Even though the river crosses their municipality, the Saint-Urbain firefighters were not used to working in a flood context and their department does not offer water rescue services.
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“The municipality does not offer the rescue service, we are not trained for that,” confirmed Alexandra Simard, a volunteer firefighter in Saint-Urbain for four years, on Wednesday at the coroner’s public inquiry into the deaths of two of his colleagues almost a year ago.
The Saint-Urbain fire safety department, a small department where all the firefighters are part-time, are qualified to evacuate disaster victims but in no case to carry out rescues on the water, explained Mme Simard.
Courtesy photo
“It’s a specialty that municipalities offer if they want, we don’t.”
For this reason, the fire station does not have specific equipment for flooding, in particular flotation jackets, said Jérôme Fournier, volunteer firefighter and officer.
Not used to
The three volunteer firefighters who testified indicated that the 1er May 2023 was the first time they were called to respond to flooding.
All have followed the basic training of the National Firefighting Academy, which does not address the issue of interventions near water.
- Listen to excerpts of conversations on radio waves between the Chaudière-Appalaches Emergency Call Center (CAUCA) and the various stakeholders
The day before the fateful events, they had not received specific information from their employer concerning a possibility of the Gouffre River overflowing, but everyone suspected that it was a possibility given the forecast of showers, explained Jérôme Fournier.
On the morning of the tragedy, local firefighters had to manage various minor situations, such as overflows on Chemin Principale and a street bordering the water.
However, the day took a catastrophic turn when information began to spread regarding the disappearance of Christopher Lavoie and Régis Lavoie in the river while trying to rescue residents.
Several firefighters, police officers and other responders rushed to the banks and the Route 138 bridge to try to locate them.
Courtesy photo
“Everyone was looking at the river. For me, the watchword was: we put all our eyes on this, we look at everything that happens,” said Mr. Fournier.
No approval from the boss
For her part, Alexandra Simard spent the afternoon alongside the director of the fire service, Cédric Châtigny who revealed to her the main points of the tragedy.
He would have mentioned that he had not given his agreement for the departure of the two victims aboard an amphibious vehicle.
“He told me that he [n’]had not arrived, firstly, to see the evolution of the water which had risen and that it [n’]never said [à Régis et Christopher] to leave. He said he told them to bring [leurs équipements] and not to go there,” argued Mme Simard.
He would have lamented that they did not have a rope to secure their intervention on the water.
Cédric Châtigny as well as the municipality’s public works manager will testify in the afternoon at the hearings which continue at the La Malbaie courthouse.