Charles de Rouville: The History and Development of the Fire Safety Department

Here, read the transcript of the interview with Charles de Rouville, Director of the Saint-Eustache Fire Safety Department.

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Over the years, many directors have left their mark on the Fire Department. I just mentioned M. Renault… He was the director of the Department for many years. The unusual thing at that time was that in a fire department with around 24 firefighters, eight were members of the Renault family, including the chief and deputy chief. And for many years, he was the director of the Fire Department. Then there was M. Bissonnet. He was the first full-time director. I would say he headed Saint-Eustache Fire Department as it entered the modern era. At that time, he gave us a lot of training. He pioneered the kinds of firefighting training we have since seen introduced in Québec. He really brought the department into a new era. Then we had M. Lauzon – Jean-Marc Lauzon – who spent many hours improving the municipal regulations on sprinklers and alarm systems, things like that. So, he followed through on all the things M. Bissonnet had started and unfortunately hadn’t had the time to finish. So… I think those were important times at the Fire Department.