Between 2021 and 2022, Gatineau firefighters were called 50 times to the sorting center, located at 33 rue Dumouchel, in an industrial sector.
More than thirty firefighters were mobilized on Sunday to try to put out a major blaze at the Center de tri Forget, a former sorting center in Gatineau. The fire was finally brought under control around 8 p.m., but the firefighters remained on the scene.
According to the most recent information from the Gatineau Fire Department (SSIG), the firefighters managed to control the situation around 7:58 p.m. No one was injured in this fire.
The Center de tri Forget was once a company specializing in the sorting and recovery of construction waste.
The fire broke out around 1 p.m. Sunday.
Sunday, Philippe l’Espérance, assistant to the SSIG command post, already announced that the building is a total loss.
We’re going to put it down [the building], the steel structure is going to be knocked down with a mechanical shovel. Then, the firefighters will be able to enter inside to finish the extinction. Because it would be too dangerous to send them inside in an abandoned building, he explained.
Philippe l’Espérance, assistant at the command post of the Gatineau Fire Department (File photo)
While the fire was not yet under control, Mr. L’Espérance specified that it was difficult to define exactly the origin of the fire.
The investigation will continue when the investigators will be able to enter the inside. It’s not safe, he said.
On Monday morning, the Service de police de la Ville de Gatineau (SPVG) indicated that the scene is still protected.
Investigators and a fire scene technician will be on site to analyze the scene and determine the causes and circumstances of the fire. For the moment, we are talking about a fire of unknown origin, said the SPVG by email.
The Forget Sorting Center has around fifty people to its credit. fires.
Repeated incidents which, in July 2022, had forced the Quebec Ministry of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change (MELCCQ) to condemn the company and its administrator, Brian Forget, to pay more than 247,000 $ for violating the Environment Quality Act.
Thirty firefighters were mobilized all afternoon and even during Sunday evening.
And yet, Mr. L’Espérance was surprised at the extent of the blaze.
“Fires of this size, there are maybe one to three a year. An industry that burns is rarer. »
— Philippe l’Espérance, assistant at the command post of the Gatineau Fire Department
With information from Gaëlle Kanyeba and Alexandra Angers
