‘Utterly ridiculous’: Union says $19M wasted as Montreal firefighters wait for clean equipment

Dirty firefighter equipment piling up. Inefficient technology. And close to $19 million wasted.

That according to Montreal Firefighters Association, which says it’s unable to properly decontaminate the city’s firefighter gear.

“We sometimes had 100 guys on duty that did not have anything to go to fires with that we were replacing with someone else on overtime,” said Chris Ross, the president of the Montreal Firefighters’ Association.

There’s only one place in Montreal where firefighters can properly decontaminate their gear — the same gear they wear into burning buildings, filled with smoke. That gear needs to be decontaminated or else crews face a higher risk of cancer.

But with just a handful of machines serving the entire city, Montreal’s firefighters’ union says dirty equipment is piling up – forcing overtime and long trips across town.

In 2025, the union estimates it meant around $19 million spent needlessly.

“Now that firefighters are returning their gear to be decontaminated after each exposure, we inevitably have a number of vehicles that are out of service for a period of several hours, sometimes until the equipment can be replaced,” said Montreal fire Chief Richard Liebmann.

‘Less washing capacity’ than 20 year ago: union

Since 2020, all firefighters are required to wash their gear immediately after every intervention to prevent cross-contaminating the cancer-causing chemicals found on their protective equipment.

“They rinse it off, they dry it, then they put it in another bag,” Ross explained. “Then we put it in a pickup truck, drive it down to the wash centre, wash it, dry it, and put it in a pickup truck, bring it back to the fire station.”

That process can take up to two weeks, according to Ross.

And while their gear is being washed, firefighters can’t respond to calls, meaning the city still pays them on top of bringing in someone else on overtime to replace them.

The union says those overtime hours account for around half of the $19 million wasted.

“We have today less washing capacity than we had 20 some odd years ago,” the union president said.

Ross also says good cleaning measures are all the more important after considering that Montreal firefighters make up about 10 per cent of the province’s firefighting workforce, but nearly 90 per cent of firefighter cancer deaths.

“Over 300 of my members in the last 15 years diagnosed with cancer that the CNESST has said is directly attributed to the work of the Montreal firefighter. From those 300, over 97 of them have died,” he said.

2 more washing machines on the way

The union president also says the equipment used to decontaminate the gear is outdated.

“It’s nothing different than a commercial washer,” said Ross. “It is basically like you would have it home.

“Even when it comes out of being washed, there is contamination in that you just cannot wash out with the technology that the Montreal Fire Department is using today.”

All this comes as the city prepares to adopt its new budget on Wednesday.

That budget includes $67 million for new firefighter equipment, including two new washing machines expected to be implemented in the next few weeks, according to the city’s fire chief

“We have also increased the number of firefighters who have their second pair of bunker gear to almost all firefighters,” Liebmann said.

But the union says the math doesn’t add up.

“You spent $18.7 million last year that you shouldn’t have spent and your solution is two washing machines that represent a $70,000 investment,” said Ross.

“It’s utterly ridiculous.”