A few hours before the tenth anniversary of the Lac-Mégantic rail disaster commemoration ceremonies, former Lac-Mégantic Fire Chief Denis Lauzon, who was in charge on July 6, 2013, returned to that hellish night.
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Events that he and his fellow pioneers at the time will never forget.
The excerpts of the audio communication between his service and the emergency call center show that between the first call and his arrival at the scene of the derailment in the city center the situation had reached an unprecedented level.
Denis Lauzon, who left the region in 2016 to become a teacher at the Quebec Fire Protection Institute, says he’s learned to manage the stress and anxiety that still haunts him a decade after the tragedy.
VAT News
Like many of his fellow firefighters present the night of the derailment, he had to learn to tame bad memories.
Among the positives he retains, alongside the resilience of his community, is solidarity with his brigade and the 80 or so Quebec and United States fire departments that have supported them in the weeks following the tragic events.
*See Jean-François Desbiens’ report in the video above*