Vaudreuil-Dorion adds full-time firefighters at Forbes fire station

Staff available 24/7, 365 days a year and will also provide first responder services

People dial 911 and they wait for the ambulance or the police ... Sometimes it takes two minutes and sometimes it takes a lot more than that.

MAYOR GUY PILON

The Vaudreuil-Dorion fire department is staffing up to ensure firefighters are standing by around the clock to respond to emergencies. The city of Vaudreuil-Dorion announced this week that as of Sept. 2, firefighters will be on duty 24/7, 365 days a year at the Forbes fire station. In addition to firefighting services, staff have also been provided training to offer first responder services, such as intervention in cases of anaphylactic shock, trauma and card io respiratory arrest. Mayor Guy Pilon said firefighters are often first to arrive on scene in an emergency because the trucks usually travel within the local territory only, whereas ambulances may be returning from the Suroît hospital in Valleyfield, a trip that can take 20 minutes or more. First responders support ambulance technicians by providing essential first aid to stabilize the injured in an effort to prevent these victims’ condition from deteriorating while waiting for an ambulance to arrive. “People dial 911 and they wait for the ambulance or the police, depending on what they need. Sometimes it takes two minutes and sometimes it takes a lot more than that,” Pilon said. The mayor noted that training firefighters to offer aid as first responders doesn’t cost the town much more, since they are already standing by to respond to emergency calls. Around 40 firefighters have received the training. Vaudreuil-Dorion hired its first four permanent, full-time firefighters in 2016, but these were assigned to work during the day only. As of next month, six firefighters will be on shift during the day and four on evenings, nights and weekends. The city aims to have six firefighters for all shifts by January, and eight firefighters split between the Forbes and Lotbinière stations by 2020. In a press release, fire department director Terry Rousseau said the change is needed to ensure adequate response times, as well as to respond to the demands of a growing population. “This will make a big difference in our interventions and enable us to achieve our objectives in terms of strike force,” he said. The Vaudreuil-Dorion fire department also serves the municipalities of Vaudreuil-sur-le-Lac and L’Île-Cadieux.