About fifteen professional firefighters from the Society for the Protection of Forests Against Fire (SOPFEU) are reduced to sleeping as best they can on the ground of the Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau airport. Due to the series of flight cancellations that Air Canada has been experiencing for the past few days, they have been stuck like many other passengers, despite the emergencies that require them in northern Quebec.
“In fact, we haven’t slept for almost 48 hours. When our flight from Edmonton to Quebec was canceled Last night, Air Canada was supposed to at least find us rooms. They did nothing. When we arrived here, we had absolutely nothing. There, we buy bottles of water for four piasses and we sleep as best we can, “explains to the Dutydrawn features, professional firefighter Jonathan Tousignant.
A group of six other firefighters from SOPFEU, explain their colleagues, found themselves in Ottawa yesterday after having scrambled to try to rally Quebec while Air Canada sees its regular services largely disrupted.
Stranded at the airport
Several Quebec firefighters who left Edmonton hoped to be able to reach the area around Sept-Îles as soon as possible. A state of emergency was declared on the North Shore on Friday morning. “The rest of us want to help, and there we just can’t,” explains firefighter Pascal Gaudet. Several firefighters spontaneously gathered to express their frustrations with Air Canada given the emergency situation.
“We were supposed to be in the West for 14 days. There is a lack of firefighters everywhere! They decided to quickly bring us back to Quebec to help. But here we are caught here! And it’s not SOPFEU’s fault, but Air Canada’s,” repeats Jonathan Tousignant while his comrades all agree.
The Minister of Public Security, François Bonnardel, announced that he had requested reinforcements from the Canadian army. More fires are active in Quebec. Meanwhile, professional firefighters find themselves stuck in Montreal due to problems with the Canadian airline. “In 16 years in the business, says firefighter Jonathan Tousignant, I have never seen so many fires at the same time. It’s crazy. »
Apparently impossible to find other flights for these firefighters. So much so that this SOPFEU team, supervised by Mathieu Tremblay, a firefighter from Rimouski, decided as a last resort on Saturday morning to buy individual bus tickets. The journey is likely to be long since these professional firefighters must first go to Quebec with their gear before they can then be assigned to the fires that require their expertise.
Need some rest
Joined by The duty, a SOPFEU communications manager, Isabelle Gariépy, indicates that she is not aware of the situation of these firefighters stuck in Dorval. She tried to temporize all the same. “That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to change anything for fire response. We have other ways to get them there. »
The firefighters lying pell-mell on the ground, loaded like mules, are not of the same opinion. Firefighter Pascal Gaudet had been lying on the ground on a simple blanket for several hours. “We didn’t sleep two hours. We haven’t slept for 48 hours. Worse once arrived by bus at the lights, it’s not sure at all that we’ll be ready to go right away! You’ll have to rest a bit. It sucks because the rest of us would like to be there. We just want that! »
Firefighters all say he has been scrambling for hours to try to get them to the scene of the fires as quickly as possible. Nothing to do. “There are about fifteen of us there in Dorval. There are six others yesterday who went to Ottawa, ”laments Mathieu Tremblay, worried that this cul-de-sac in which his troops are located could give SOPFEU bad publicity. “It’s not our fault for anything that’s going on. »
“The lights are there and it hurts our hearts not to be able to be there. We just want to be there, ”adds another SOPFEU firefighter. ” Him [désignant Mathieu Tremblay], he can’t speak. The rest of us can say that it doesn’t make sense. »
Dozens of Air Canada flights were canceled again Saturday morning. The lines in front of customer services were getting longer. The travelers’ impatience was palpable. Even after all the setbacks the company has experienced in recent days, “this is the worst day we’ve had so far,” an Air Canada clerk dropped Saturday morning.