SPCIS Activity Report tabled

Sherbrooke Fire Chief Stéphane Simoneau presented the city council with the report of activities of his department for the period of 2014 to 2017 on Monday night. He described the period as a “time of great change, optimization, reorganization, and continuous improvement."

The report indicates that the number of annual interventions in Sherbrooke remains fairly stable from one year to the next, ranging from 5,300 to 5,600, or about 15 emergency interventions per day. On average each year, these mainly consist of fires (249), first responder services (2,434), false alarms (735), rescues (48) and accidents (695).

"Our response time and our firepower (12 firefighters in 10 minutes) is very satisfying and fully meets the standards of the Department of Public Safety," Simoneau said.

In terms of fire prevention, the SPCIS completed more than 7,500 residential visits annually between 2014 and 2017 and achieved its goal of 500 building inspections, three out of four years.

Major achievements

"Over the last four years, major improvements have been made to our facilities. These include the establishment of a permanent municipal coordination center for emergency measures, the establishment of three new disaster relief centers, the construction of the Robertdavidson station at the Plateau Saintjoseph, and the Jacques-denault station on Bourque Boulevard in addition to the refurbishment and expansion of the Charles-audet Barracks on Claire-jolicoeur Street and the installation of a fire station in the former borough of Brompton,” explained Danielle Berthold, municipal councillor and chair of the public safety committee.

"With the construction and commissioning of the new Lennoxville fire hall in 2019, millions of dollars have been invested in ensuring the safety of the entire Sherbrooke population," concluded Berthold.

The SPCIS activity report can be consulted on sherbrooke.ca.