Surrounded by Fire

On Sunday, January 23, 2011, a call came to the fire hall around 7:30 p.m. A fire had broken out in a building in a residential neighbourhood, at 24 De la Gare Street. Marc Gauthier and Éric Paulin were the first to arrive on the scene. Just a little smoke was coming out of the house and the flames seemed to come from the garage. A routine fire. The two men entered the residence through the garage, cleared the smoke and put out the fire.

But when they opened the door to the house, the whole area was quickly filled with flames and an enormous amount of smoke. The two firefighters were totally disoriented and surrounded by fire! For nearly five minutes they were paralyzed, not knowing what to do, and exposed to extreme heat. Without their “bunker” gear, the heat would have been unbearable and lethal. Their colleague, Étienne Marchand, arrived in the second fire truck and managed to get them out quickly. The three men tell us about this gruelling experience.

Lieutenant Marc Gauthier talks about his experience (subtitles available in FR and EN) – Watch the video with the transcript (EN).

Lieutenant Érick Paulin talks about his experience (subtitles available in FR and EN) – Watch the video with the transcript (EN).

Eligible firefighter Étienne Marchand talks about his experience (subtitles available in FR and EN) – Watch the video with the transcript (EN).