A Quebec coroner says the province’s firefighting academy should warn students that “hero” culture can sometimes lead firefighters to overlook their own safety in their attempts to save others.
Coroner Andrée Kronström made the comments in her report on the deaths of volunteer firefighters Christopher Lavoie and Régis Lavoie, who perished in May 2023 trying to save a couple during intense flooding in Quebec’s Charlevoix region.
Their deaths were the result of a chain of factors — including the fact they used an amphibious vehicle to cross a flooded field to save a man and woman trapped in their home in St-Urbain, Que., northeast of Quebec City.
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Kronström told reporters today in La Malbaie, Que., that the local emergency plan wasn’t widely known, a fact that prevented officials from properly deploying resources.
An expert had testified during the coroner’s inquest that the floodwaters were rushing too fast, and that the firefighters should have recognized it was too dangerous to try and reach the couple by amphibious vehicle.
Their vehicle capsized in the water and the bodies of the two firefighters were found two days later, roughly 500 metres apart in a river about 100 kilometres northeast of Quebec City.
Kronström issued 15 recommendations, including that the province’s firefighter academy include specific training on water rescues, and on the importance of firefighters prioritizing their own safety in addition to that of others.
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