Closure of terraces in Montreal: Two firefighters suspended after fiasco

Two employees of the City of Montreal Fire Department were suspended following the controversial closure of restaurant terraces on Peel Street during Grand Prix weekend.

“The situation was worrying, so the city manager’s office decided to open an internal, administrative investigation to shed light on what happened because … what happened was unacceptable and the city manager’s office decided to suspend an employee,” said Luc Rabouin, chairman of the mayor’s executive committee, during a press conference Monday afternoon.

He declined to provide further details on the suspension of the Montreal Fire Safety Service (SIM).

On Monday evening, Noovo Info reported that a second SIM employee had been suspended and that both employees would remain on salary pending the outcome of the investigation.

On Friday evening, around 9 p.m., SIM fire safety officers asked several businesses to close their terraces due to alleged violations of fire safety regulations, otherwise all their restaurants would have to close.

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante called for an autopsy after the incident, which led to the closure of numerous terraces on one of the busiest nights of the year for bars.

Ferreira Café was one of the establishments affected and owner Sandra Ferreira posted a tearful message about the ordeal on Instagram after clearing her crowded patio. Her video has been viewed more than two million times.

In an interview with CTV News on Monday, she described how upsetting it was to kick her customers out.

“I was so angry and that’s why I started crying. And I started crying in front of the gentlemen when they asked me to evacuate,” she told CTV News.

A “hard” approach

Rabouin said it was important to ensure compliance with fire safety regulations, but he was concerned about the “harsh” approach of fire officials when they visited the restaurants on Friday evening.

“As elected officials, we cannot decide the operation of the SIM, but I firmly believe there are other ways to make sure we can enforce (the rules). And coming during rush hour doesn’t seem like the best idea,” he said.

Luc Rabouin, chair of the mayor’s executive committee, speaks to reporters on Monday, June 10, 2024. (CTV News)

“It’s a shock for them, it’s a shock for us,” he added, referring to the way the situation was handled. “We think that’s unacceptable.”

Alain Creton, the owner of Chez Alexandre, says he has never seen anything like this in his 47 years in business and he hopes it never happens again.

“It’s a shame. A shame for us, a shame for Montreal,” he said, adding that he lost 75 percent of his business on Friday night.

The city granted special permission to Peel Street stores to open their patios, despite firefighters insisting they were not compliant and claiming they had warned stores ten days before the operation.

Traders say the situation could have been handled better if the tents had been dismantled.

Rabouin said city officials met with them on Monday and that the administration is looking for solutions to prevent this from happening again.

Meanwhile, opposition party Ensemble Montreal demanded that the city government question fire officials before city council so that the public can get answers about the “monumental fiasco” that has tarnished the city’s reputation.

Julien Hénault-Ratelle, the party’s economic critic, blamed the “shameful” incident on a lack of coordination and communication between the fire protection team and the district administration headed by Plante.

He said their government should question fire officials before the city council so the public can get answers about the “monumental fiasco” that has damaged the city’s reputation.

He said that while the closure only affects a few restaurants, it is just the latest challenge for downtown businesses struggling to survive. “There are issues of cleanliness, living with homeless people in downtown Montreal and here we have a construction site right next to the street,” he told reporters. “All of these issues are very hard on all business owners.”

With files from Olivia O’Malley of CTV Montreal and The Canadian Press