Montreal invests millions to make firefighter gear safer, less contaminated
City sets aside new money, but union says it's 'the bare minimum to cover what we need'
The City of Montreal is investing millions of dollars to improve the health and safety of firefighters, including purchasing new protective gear.
In a news release on Thursday, the city said it would spend just under $6.4 million this year. The city is committing to set aside $3.2 million annually as of 2026.
"Thanks to significant investments, the city is improving the traceability, the decontamination, the maintenance and the renewing of protective clothing, ensuring better protection against risks that firefighters are exposed to," reads the city's statement.
"This initiative, done in collaboration with the Service de sécurité incendie de Montréal (SIM), aims to secure safer working conditions for those who display bravery on a daily basis."
In May, the province's workplace health and safety board, known by its French initialism CNESST, officially added six cancers to the presumptive cancer list, bringing that total to 15. When firefighters are diagnosed with a type of cancer that is on that list, they do not need to prove it was related to their work in order to get compensation.
British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Nova Scotia recognize between 18 and 20 types of workplace-related cancers for firefighters.
The City of Montreal says the money will also be used to improve the maintenance of washing machines and vehicles.
Chris Ross, president of the Montreal firefighters' association, welcomed the new funding but said more assistance is still needed.
"It's really the bare minimum to cover what we need," Ross said. "This is where we should have been five years ago."
Ross says the city only acted after the association put in a request of intervention with the CNESST in November of last year.
"I found it just a little bit ironic that the city of Montreal says 'we're doing this because we care about the health and safety of our members,' but 92 firefighters just died in the last 15 years and nobody was interested before we complained to the CNESST."
Written by Antoni Nerestant