In Montreal, journalist Louis-Philippe Messier is mostly on the run, with his desk in his backpack, looking for fascinating topics and people. In this city chronicle he speaks to everyone and is interested in all areas of life.
On the evening of August 17, an unidentified citizen outdid Canadian Army and Sûreté du Québec forces by jumping onto his inflatable boat to rescue two young boaters in danger who had been clinging to the rocks at the threshold for about three hours the Lachine Rapids.
I found this “volunteer rescuer” so he could tell me his story and show me in the heart of the rapids why they are so treacherous and dangerous.
“It was the sound of the army helicopter that alerted me and when I understood the situation, I went in my boat to look for the two young people,” Christian Hébert, 54, explains to me.
“For me it’s simple: I know the rapids like the back of my hand. The map is in my head. I spent all my summers here in the family home on Devil’s Island. “I’ve been boating here since I was 11,” adds the man, who has made a living as a landscape gardener for 26 years.
René Lévesque and Maurice Richard, photos in his living room, were among the guests of the chalet and the Héberts’ fishing trips.
“My first memory of a rescue was when I was 12 years old: it was a swimmer in a swimming trunks from Kahnawake who was unable to get back to shore. »
It seems that heroism is passed on from father to son. “I saw how my father Roger proceeded to sit in the right place, because the rescuer who does not know the rapids can quickly find himself in danger,” warns Mr. Hébert.
Photo agency QMI, JOEL LEMAY
Deadly accident
On October 17, 2021, firefighter Pierre Lacroix also died while trying to tow a broken-down boat.
A trough of waves overturned the boat onto the rescuer, who was trapped.
According to a decision by the CNESST, the Montreal Fire Department has stopped responding to the rapids since this accident.
In other words, when Christian Hébert voluntarily helped the two young people, the professionals were forced to watch him… without having the right to intervene.
Mr. Hébert takes me to the eddies on his 22-foot Airsolid inflatable boat equipped with a turbine.
It was his childhood friend and sponsor, mechanic Daniel Guilbert, who last year modified this old fireboat so that it could navigate in half a foot of water.
The current is stronger than we imagine.
“Last week I came back from Devil’s Island and caught a bulldog that was being carried away by the current. His masters had thrown the ball too far into the river. »
“From here, upstream, it seems smooth, it seems like there are no obstacles, but there are “flats”, rocky shoals almost everywhere. You can destroy your propeller and capsize. »
“Here is the place where firefighter Lacroix lost his life: look at the drop. »
A kind of “mini-autumn” in this place holds an unpleasant surprise for those who do not know these places well.
“Just before it’s calm, it seems like the right place to hang the boat, but suddenly everything capsizes and when you fall unconscious it’s over. »
Sections of the rapids appear calm…then there is a risk of boats tipping over their occupants. Photo agency QMI, JOEL LEMAY
Rescuers advise
Couldn’t he or his son pass on some of their knowledge of the Lachine Rapids to help the emergency services?
“I have written a letter to Mayor Valérie Plante to offer my services as an advisor or to formalize all these rescue operations that I have been carrying out since childhood with my father and that my 21-year-old son will continue to carry out after me. »
So far the phone hasn’t rung.
Do volunteer citizens have to unofficially save people again? Probably. Because the rapids are treacherous and won’t wait for the bureaucracy to lift the blockade.
In addition to stranded boaters and lost sailboats heading toward the dangerous whirlpools, Mr. Hébert has also rescued suicidal people from the Mercier Bridge: a man who had changed his mind in the water and wanted to live, and an unconscious woman who later died in the hospital.