More than seven months after the fire which left seven dead in Old Montreal, the Montreal Fire Safety Service (SIM) claims to have maintained and even slightly increased inspections and prevention activities on its territory. The report presented Tuesday before the Public Safety Commission does not, however, make it possible to measure the effectiveness of the inspection operations carried out since the tragic fire, believes the opposition.
In 2022, the SIM had carried out 11,572 general inspections and prevention activities. According to the deputy director of the SIM, Chantal Bibeau, this figure has now increased to 12,391 since the start of 2023.
However, the data presented by the SIM on Tuesday makes comparisons with previous years difficult and lacks precision regarding certain activities. Following the fatal fire that occurred on March 16 in a building which housed accommodation rented short-term on Airbnb, the SIM set up the operation called “Vulcain”, aimed at intensifying inspections of heritage buildings in Old Montreal. The SIM is now issuing formal notices to force negligent owners to quickly correct observed non-compliance.
The SIM report shows 97 inspections of heritage buildings in Ville-Marie and 490 non-compliances observed since April 3, 2023. In addition, nine formal notices were sent to owners whose buildings did not meet the standards. in terms of safety, particularly with regard to emergency exits or sprinklers. Operation Vulcain was also extended to the entire metropolitan area, which led to 460 inspections, 2,042 non-compliances and 13 formal notices.
However, the SIM was not able to specify what deficiencies had been identified, how many heritage buildings were in Old Montreal and whether the non-compliances had been corrected after the inspections.
New strategy
The director of the SIM, Richard Liebmann, admitted that a change in the method of accounting for operations makes it difficult to compare the inspection activities carried out this year compared to those of 2022. The SIM now targets buildings where the risks are higher. “The shift that we began in 2022 is really to move towards impact inspections which are more complex, which take more time, but which risk saving many more lives when we correct anomalies,” explained Mr. Liebmann.
So, between the 1er January and September 30, 2023, the SIM carried out 5,752 inspections on its territory, indicates its report presented on Tuesday. The SIM, however, did not have precise data for 2022 in this regard. “We are in the process of revising our performance indicators because we were not measuring the right things,” said Mr. Liebmann.
The assessment drawn up by the SIM is not very enlightening, said Alan DeSousa, mayor of Saint-Laurent and member of the opposition who had called for an update on the inspection blitz. “I am an accountant by training. The devil is in the details. When we present a report, we must be able to compare the data with previous years,” he explained.
Changing the validation system is perhaps laudable, but certain benchmarks should have been kept in order to better evaluate the effectiveness of the new strategy, he said. “When we say that we have done 97 inspections in Ville-Marie, what is the inventory? [des bâtiments] ? Is it just a drop in the ocean? “, he asked himself. “This tragedy was seen across the world. It affects Montreal’s reputation, its credibility. We have an obligation to [remédier] as quickly as possible. I hope the administration got the message. »
The elected official also expressed concern about the investigation carried out by the Montreal Police Service (SPVM) into the deadly fire in Old Montreal. Tuesday morning, the Montreal Journal reported that four of the eight investigators working on the case had requested to be assigned to other investigations. ” It worries me. Is the investigation going well? asked Mr. DeSousa.
For his part, the head of public security on the executive committee, Alain Vaillancourt, reiterated his confidence in the SPVM. “It’s one of the best police forces [avec] the best investigators there are. »