Alexandre Roy: Life at the Fire Hall

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

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When I get to work in the morning, the first thing I do is meet my colleagues, who are now my friends. I make sure things are going well with everyone. Because to start a day as a firefighter, you have to make sure everyone is fully present, so… Next, we have our paperwork to do, the little things we have to check on every day, and then we have breakfast together. That’s when we see what our day will be like: the officer explains what his goals for the day are. But we never know what to expect… in the rundown of the day. We never know how the day will go. A call, a fire, or a number of minor calls can completely change the game plan for the day. But when we get back to the fire hall, we do all our little chores. We look after the fire hall just like you look after your home. At home, everyone has their job to do. Well, it’s the same at the fire hall. We do our chores; we pick up after ourselves. We get ready to carry out our tasks. We get ready to go out. And at the end of the day, we make sure we leave everything tidy for the other family members who will be arriving.