Pier-Marc Girard: The Fire on René Lévesque Boulevard

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

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As a firefighter, it was really… Safety was really important in that fire. So, we had to take a step back. It was important throughout the operation. It was… It’s not all fires where you see… them spread so quickly or with such intense radiation caused by the wind or the heat of the main fire. So that meant that at every moment we really had to be safe in our manoeuvres, avoid going into the building if we weren’t sure it was safe. Because with the type of construction we have today, the heat spreads really fast. The materials are highly combustible. So, you’ve really got to watch out for… for radiation, the heat the buildings can create.