Marc Gauthier: The Fire on De la Gare Street

Here, read the transcript of the interview with Marc Gauthier, a lieutenant in the Saint-Eustache Fire Safety Department.

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In other words, it was smoke, hot gases… In other words, there was poor ventilation. So, all the smoke spread around the inside of the house, within a few seconds, I’d say. And we were caught off guard. So, we were disoriented, we started to panic… And that’s when it hit us: we’re goners. When you’re caught inside, suddenly you’re… like I said, you’re disoriented. You panic. You think… all you want to do is get out… you’re stuck, it’s like you’re imprisoned. You think, “It can’t… this can’t be it.” You know, you think… Your whole life flashes through your mind… You know, I think it lasted 3 and a half minutes, the actual event, but it’s like… your whole life flashes through your mind. It’s incredible. I thought about my family, my wife, my kids.