The de Rouville Family

Here, read the transcript of the interview with Charles and Yvon de Rouville and Mathieu Hertel de Rouville, chief and firefighters in the Saint-Eustache Fire Safety Department.

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Yvon de Rouville: But with Mathieu and me, it’s unique. It’s always great. But when we’re responding to an incident, I’m always… Mathieu’s my son, but he’s like another firefighter. I don’t make any distinction. No doubt there’s always a little feeling there when he’s going to go into the fire. But… Because with fire, there’s always an element of risk. We’re well trained. The smoke gives us a huge amount of information, but there are always little things that we don’t know. Which can be dangerous.

Mathieu Hertel de Rouville: Me too. It’s kind of the same. If I know I’m going out to respond to a call with my dad, I’m always just a little worried. Because firefighting, we know it’s an extremely dangerous job. You never know what’s waiting for you. You never know what might happen to you. But I rely on the experience he’s built up over the years. When I go out to respond to a call, I’m reassured knowing that my dad has his experience to give him… extra support in the calls, so I can concentrate on what I’m doing. As one of the youngest firefighters in the City of Saint-Eustache, I rely on other people a lot. I keep a close watch on how the others work and so on. I’m still learning, even though I’ve been here for four years. You might think after three years… four years, you know the department, you know the game as they say, but even after four years I still consider myself to be a… a new guy. I’m still learning a lot about everyone and about how to do the work.