Érick Paulin: The Fire on De la Gare Street

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

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The call came at around 7:00, 7:30 p.m. about a fire in a building. The building was evacuated. When we arrived, we got to work. We thought the fire was contained. So, we went ahead with the response, prepared the hose to go inside. There were three of us firefighters. So, then we were going to extinguish the fire. In those days, when we did that, there was a lot of… you ventilated and extinguished the fire. It was done simultaneously. So, we went ahead with trying to extinguish the fire, but the ventilation wasn’t… there wasn’t adequate ventilation. So, the heat returned and we closed the door again. But it always crosses my mind in situations like that. The only thing that’s changed a bit is that we don’t… we don’t take anything for granted. What might seem like the most “routine” fire can be as dangerous as a huge one.