Expired equipment, lack of training among safety risks in Auditor General report on Montreal’s firefighters

Significant gaps in inventory management, inspection and maintenance of the Montreal fire department’s equipment is putting lives at risk, according to the recent City of Montreal Auditor General report.

The Montreal Firefighters Association (MPA) claims this is a security crisis that has been known and ignored by the municipal administration for as many as 15 years.

MPA president Chris Ross says he’s vindicated and angered — but not surprised — by the report. The association is demanding a public and independent action plan.

“This report will be one of the first steps in getting the information public and putting pressure on getting a commitment from the employer in order to make sure change does come in and change is concrete,” Ross said.

Concerns in education, training

The association and report say more than 20,000 pieces of protective equipment are incomplete, unreliable and non-compliant, which they say directly compromises the safety of firefighters.

“When you’re talking about 20,000 pieces, you’re talking about what you see the firefighter wear every day on a daily basis. So the helmet, the gloves, the boots, the pants, the coats, the SCBA (self-contained breathing apparatus),” Ross explained.

“This equipment is extremely important for the health and safety of our members. We wear it to go into burning buildings. If it fails, we have serious health and safety issues that can lead to serious injuries, if not deaths.”

Additionally the report cites “lack of oversight” of mask leak tests along with inadequate training monitoring and maintenance skills in the use of personal protective equipment (PPE). These “faults” in training and skills present inconsistencies in completing training courses, it says.

“Data tracking the completion of firefighter continuing education is incomplete and inconsistent, making it impossible to demonstrate that everyone has completed the necessary training for the optimal and safe use of PPE,” the report reads.

‘I don’t think firefighters’ lives are at risk’

Montreal Fire Department (SIM) Chief Richard Liebmann confirmed the facts within the report are accurate, though clarifies the department has been working on improving the situation for years — adding he was surprised with the union’s response.

“Look, firefighting is a job that has certain risks and while I think the tone may have been a little bit alarmist, a lot of the facts are nonetheless correct, but I don’t think firefighters’ lives are at risk,” Liebmann explained.

“There are some things that, while factually accurate, doesn’t really give the whole portrait. For example, the respiratory protection program, we do have a robust respiratory protection program. It’s the heart of what we do. We go into burning buildings, so obviously respiratory protection is one of our primary concerns and has been for a long time.”

Budget cuts persist

Ross explained that with budget cuts being constant, the easiest way to cut the budget is in targeting “the support service that are responsible for the inventory, the inspection, and maintenance” of their gear. In an example, Ross explained that one suit fetches $10,000 on the low end.

Liebmann clarifies this has nothing to do with funding.

Ross says in 2015, a first complaint was filed with the CNESST and again in fall 2024 — which the city was allegedly aware of — saying this report “confirms in black and white that the same shortcomings persist.”

“The most recent incident is we had to go back to the CNSST and file another complaint that our members were not provided with adequate gear. Operational issues with firefighters and fire trucks being out of service and unable to respond to calls,” Ross explained of the fall 2024 report.

“Also firefighters being forced to work with expired gear, gear that haven’t been inspected, and gear that are not necessarily up to the standards and the regulations,”

Within the audit results, the report reads: “The inventory of the thousands of items of PPE used by the SIM is incomplete, inaccurate, and outdated. As a result, their traceability and the effectiveness of monitoring their lifespan are undermined.”

With the department being among the top-10 largest municipal fire departments in North America, Liebmann acknowledged that more action needs to be done on their end with respect to documenting everything and doing proper follow up and traceability of their equipment. He explained they’ve issued a contract for a new integrated system which will be “more modern” and allow them to use the proper tools when doing real time accounting.

Liebmann explained the percentage of the “expired” equipment is low compared to their overall stock.

Along with their conclusion, the report states that SIM has “not implemented adequate mechanisms to efficiently and effectively manage the personal protective equipment (PPE) used by its firefighters throughout its life cycle.”

Link between cancer and firefighting

Ross explained that cancer is the leading cause of death among firefighters, which was officially recognized in 2023 as a cancer-causing occupation. Liebmann was candid in opening on his own diagnosis from last year, which he explained is job related.

“It’s definitely emerged as the number one issue in terms of firefighter safety across the world. It’s not just here in Montreal. It’s the subject of a lot of our discussions,” Liebmann said.

Both Ross and Liebmann expressed deep empathy about the connection, and spoke of the vital importance of ensuring the safety and wellbeing of each firefighter.

Ross explained that over the last 15 years, 92 Montreal firefighters have their deaths recognized by the CNSST as being directly related to the exposure from work.

“We’re on the same team with respect to this with the union. We want all of our firefighters and members to be safe and come home healthy, not just at the end of their shift, but the end of their career,” Liebmann said.

“It’s important they have clean equipment and that equipment is decontaminated at after each exposure,” added Ross.

“We don’t get that,” he claimed.

As for the union’s response to the report, the MPA also demands:

• “Accountability for those responsible for this failing management;
• A public and independent action plan, with clear timelines and responsibilities;
• An immediate statement by the municipal administration to recognize the seriousness of the shortcomings;
• and concrete measures built into the collective agreement, to ensure that safety is never negotiable again.”

“Plans are already in place,” Liebmann detailed.

“We do continue to work hand and hand with the association as much to the extent possible we also need them to step up and be agile and respond to things that we need to do.”

As Montreal enters an election campaign in a few weeks, the MPA says it is waiting for “clear commitments” to ensure that the safety of first responders is never again neglected.