This morning, the Régie incendie de l’Alliance des Grandes-Seigneuries closed the Delson fire station without notice, because no officer was around.
However, the three firefighters who were present to start their 24-hour shifts have been properly trained to act as an officer. The fourth team member is usually a lieutenant, but he wasn’t available today.
Instead of replacing that person with one of the firefighters already at the station, the managers at the Régie instead sent them home immediately and closed down the station for 24 hours.
The union denounced this ill-advised decision, which could adversely affect the level of response if a fire is called in. This also meant that the ladder truck and the fire engine will not be available today if an urgent call is received. We believe that this approach needlessly compromises public safety.
The Régie serves more than 80,000 citizens in the de Roussillon RCM, i.e., Saint-Constant, Sainte-Catherine, Candiac and Delson. The latter has 75 firefighters on its staff.