Montreal fire department beefs up ice rescue training amid mild weather
Faced with increasingly mild winters, Montreal's fire department (SIM) is kicking its ice rescue training into high gear.
Martin Guilbault, head of the SIM's training division, said the constant fluctuations above and below the freezing mark have made the ice especially unsafe this year.
"The fact that the weather goes up over zero and then below zero and over zero, it doesn't make the ice very thick for a long period of time," he told CTV News.
The SIM's ice rescue team has performed 10 rescues since the start of 2024 alone, and more interventions are expected as the ice continues to thaw.
Last week, the team was spotted doing practice drills in the St. Lawrence River. Guilbault explained they were filming an instructional video, which trainees will watch before testing the waters themselves.
Given the urgency ice breaks, the training required is highly specific. About 150 SIM firefighters are qualified to perform ice rescues.
"We're dealing more with freezing water and the fact that when people go in the water because the ice breaks, we have [only] a couple of minutes to get to them," Guilbault said, stressing the risks of hypothermia.
"The other challenging part of it is to get to the person, because you can have thicker ice, then thinner ice."
The SIM uses specialized rescue boats made by the company UMA to churn through as much icy water as possible. In some cases, a rescuer, tethered to the boat, will shimmy onto the ice to retrieve the endangered person.
But no amount of training can beat prevention, said Guilbaut. Under the current conditions, he's advising Montrealers not to venture onto the ice at all.
"The main fact is, we don't want to use our techniques to go get you out of the water," he said. "Don't go on the ice, especially in the days to come."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Liberal MP says she's leaving politics over disrespectful dialogue, threats, misogyny
Liberal MP Pam Damoff says she won't run again in the next federal election, saying she has experienced misogyny, disrespectful dialogue in politics and threats to her life.
Concerns about Plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall Plexiglass barriers.
Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Ont. woman who faked pregnancy to defraud doulas arrested again on similar charges
Victims of a Brantford, Ont., woman who was sentenced to house arrest earlier this year for defrauding and deceiving doulas say they’re not surprised she’s been apprehended again on similar charges.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Construction begins on LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa
Shovels have hit the ground for constuction on Canada's LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa.
B.C. man awarded $5,000 in damages in first-of-it-kind intimate image case
In a first-of-its-kind case, a B.C. tribunal has ruled on a dispute involving the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, awarding damages and issuing orders that the photos be destroyed and taken offline.