Pierre Rochon: The Seagrave 221

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

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In 1987, when I started in the department, we had a ladder truck called the 221. It was a Seagrave, an American make, and it belonged to the city of… Saint-Laurent if I remember correctly. It had been bought by the city of Saint-Eustache because we didn’t have a ladder truck. It was convertible. It didn’t have a roof. A two-seater. It was 85 feet high. It was… it was weird. It was… it felt like you were in a movie. Because it… it was really loud. It had a powerful gasoline engine. And there was no roof. In winter it was extremely cold. And we’d ride on the outside of the truck, too. The guys couldn’t ride inside because there was no room. They’d ride on the back, fastened on with a belt. They’d grab onto the bar and off we’d go.