An investigation by a Quebec coroner into the 2023 deaths of two volunteer firefighters throughout a water rescue in Saint-Urbain, Que., concluded their deaths had been a results of a “chain of occasions.”
In a 39-page report launched Wednesday, Quebec coroner Andrée Kronström revealed that vital shortcomings contributed to the lads’s deaths, together with inadequate emergency planning, a scarcity of coaching and insufficient gear for aquatic interventions.
On Might 1, 2023, Régis Lavoie, 55, a volunteer firefighter, and Christopher Lavoie, 23, a firefighter in coaching, drowned after boarding an amphibious ATV in an try and rescue a pair whose residence was surrounded by quickly rising waters from the close by Gouffre River.
The river overflowed after vital rainfall and snowmelt led to what Kronström described as a 100-year flood.
The robust present made it laborious for the 2 firefighters — who weren’t associated — to manage the ATV, which began drifting. They ultimately fell into the water and had been swept away.
As heavy rain induced rivers to swell in Quebec’s Charlevoix area, cellphone video captured a leisure car floating down a speeding river in Baie-Saint-Paul, Que., and colliding with a bridge.
Kronström made a number of suggestions highlighting the necessity to enhance the co-ordination of municipal sources and strengthen collaboration between municipalities throughout the identical MRC, or regional county.
“The municipal civil safety plan was not recognized and the deployment of municipal sources didn’t enable selections to be taken that had been applicable to the urgency of the scenario,” Kronström stated.
With a scarcity of path from municipal authorities and inadequate sources, the firefighters made the choice to try the rescue utilizing a private amphibious car, which was not designed to be used in fast-moving waters of that depth.
Redefining hero tradition, or the ‘must rescue’
In her report, Kronström underscored the significance of offering higher coaching for firefighters to make sure their security throughout pure disasters, emphasizing the necessity to redefine hero tradition and its place throughout the curriculum for Quebec firefighters.
Skilled testimony heard final spring through the course of the coroner’s public inquiry decided the one protected intervention on that fateful day would have been for the 2 males to not intervene.
On the time of the tried rescue, they had been sporting heavy firefighting gear, generally known as bunker fits, however weren’t sporting private flotation gadgets. Out there life jackets, in line with a 2024 report by Quebec’s office well being and security board (CNESST), weren’t adjusted to be worn over firefighting gear.
A subsequent study carried out by the CNESST, in a managed surroundings, confirmed that firefighters sporting full gear throughout interventions on or close to the water will in flip turn out to be victims in want of rescuing in the event that they fall within the water.
“They meant properly, they wished to go and assist,” Kronström stated of the 2 males, “however they didn’t put their security first” and had been perhaps unaware of the dangers concerned.
Kronström defined the “must rescue” or the notion of hero tradition must be approached in a balanced and protected method.
The stranded couple within the residence was ultimately airlifted to security within the late afternoon by a Sûreté du Québec helicopter.
Quebec’s École Nationale des Pompiers advised CBC it might not touch upon the report and referred questions on coaching to Quebec’s Public Safety Ministry.
Kronström, for her half, stated the director of the college, Stephen Valade, had been receptive to her feedback through the inquiry.
Change is welcome, however extra help wanted
In the meantime, the mayor of Saint-Urbain, Claudette Simard, welcomed the coroner’s report and stated she was glad with its findings.
She stated the report highlighted the challenges and desires of small municipalities like Saint-Urbain in the case of coping with pure disasters.
“At one of the best of occasions, I’ve 12 firefighters,” Simard stated, including that is not sufficient.
She additionally stated that including extra volunteer firefighters takes time in an effort to guarantee they get correct coaching.
“It has to alter,” she stated, including she would not need the deaths of the 2 firefighters to have been in useless.
Because the tragedy, she stated, the city has overhauled its public safety emergency plan and can monitor it yearly to revise any modifications.
As per the coroner’s suggestions, the city will even must redo its web site to incorporate an alert system to warn the inhabitants of any emergencies and a web page with ideas and instruments to be higher ready for future occasions.
Moreover, Simard stated work was already underway with neighbouring municipalities to see how they will share fireplace security sources and companies to raised reply to emergencies.
The prefect of the Charlevoix regional municipal county, Patrick Lavoie, stated the objective is to have an inter-municipal service settlement in place by January 2026.
Simard stated the city needs to implement all of the suggestions however is hoping the provincial authorities will present extra help on the bottom and monetary sources.
In an electronic mail to CBC, Quebec’s Public Safety Ministry stated it will overview the report and analyze its suggestions, however pointed to varied steps it had already taken to scale back the danger of disasters and strengthen response capacities to those occasions.
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