The January 2014 fire in L’Isle-Verte cost the lives of 32 elderly people, but the toll could have been more dramatic without the work of first responders. We spoke with the first two rescuers to intervene at the scene of the tragedy who, ten years later, still remember the blaze worthy of “a war film”.
• Read also: 10 years later, former fire chief Yvan Charron would not change anything about his intervention in L’Isle-Verte
“All we heard was the sounds of the fire and people screaming. It was really like a war film,” recalls Dominic Pellerin, of the Sûreté du Québec (SQ).
Now an investigative sergeant for the SQ on the South Shore of Montreal, in 2014 he took his first steps as a police officer in Trois-Pistoles.
On the evening of January 23, 2014, he received the emergency call around 12:30 a.m.
“When I arrived on the scene, we were among the first on site. There was only one volunteer firefighter,” relates Mr. Pellerin who, despite the years, still remembers the events “as if it were yesterday.”
As soon as he arrived on the scene, he began trying to pull residents out of the blaze. Some “throw themselves from the third floor” at his feet.
Dominic Pellerin receiving the Medal of Bravery in 2015 from the then Governor General of Canada, David Johnston.
Photo provided by Dominic Pellerin
“There were a lot of people with reduced mobility, so we picked them up or put them on blankets to get them out,” he explains.
Adrenaline and risk-taking
The volunteer firefighter with him from the first moments is Simon Lajoie, then a firefighter for three years, municipal councilor of L’Isle-Verte and farmer.
“I can’t even describe the feeling I had there,” he says in an interview with The newspaper. “But it really wasn’t a nice feeling!”
“The adrenaline kicked in and the first thing I said to myself was: we have a job to do and we are going to do what we are capable of doing,” says the firefighter who claims to have been more shaken in his role as advisor. “Putting out a fire and saving people is more mundane as a firefighter. But as an advisor, afterwards, with the families, the research, Public Security and the press briefings, it was a big deal!”
Cold and ice took the place of the flames in the days following the blaze, complicating the work of first responders in L’Isle-Verte.
Photo provided by the Sûreté du Québec
The images of the tragedy remain striking for these rescuers who ultimately managed to rescue more than ten people from the fire. Deeply into action, they sometimes make decisions which, today, seem riskier to them.
“Entering the residence without a mask [à oxygène], it was perhaps not the best idea, illustrates Dominic Pellerin. Looking back, I tell myself today that we could have stayed there too.”
Although he claims to be able to sleep despite what he has experienced, the police officer confirms that “for others, it was very difficult.”