Pier-Alexandre Pineault: Becoming a Firefighter

Here, read the transcript of the interview with Pier-Alexandre Pineault, a firefighter in the Saint-Eustache Fire Safety Department.

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I decided I wanted to be a firefighter when I was a little kid. Well, I don’t exactly know if that was what I wanted to do, but I already had a strong interest in it. I come from a small town called Baie-Comeau. It’s in the Côte-Nord region, around nine hours’ drive from here, to give you an idea. I had family members who were firefighters – uncles. They would often take me to the fire hall to see the trucks. They’d let me try on their gear. I was definitely in awe. But I think the time when I decided to become a firefighter was when there was a fire across from my house when I was in high school.  Seeing the billows of black smoke coming out of the building really affected me. Flames were coming out of the windows. The firefighters got there really quickly to put out the fire. They went inside. I was able to watch it all from my bedroom window. It lasted for much of the evening. And I was almost wishing I could be where they were.