From The Canadian Broadcasting Corp.'s Website Link: http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/1999/11/17/pq_y2k991117

Montreal blaze blamed on Y2K WebPosted Wed Nov 17 07:29:50 1999 MONTREAL - Firefighters in Montreal are blaming the city's Y2K preparations for a blaze that gutted a fire station.

Police say the fire broke out Tuesday after a firefighter left some french fries cooking on the station's stove as he and his crew responded to a fire at a nearby building.

The blaze caused a half-million dollars in damage to the station.

Fire officials say a breaker switch designed to shut off the stove when firefighters leave to answer a call had been disabled when the city installed its new Y2K-proof computers.

The Montreal Firefighters Union says more than half the city's stations have the same problem.

-- Midas (midas_mulligan_2000@yahoo.com), November 17, 1999

Answers

Wow! Gives real meaning to Mc Donald's "frY2K" commercial!

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.cum), November 17, 1999.

(troll food) Yup, that's them wasting money fixing stuff that wasn't going to break, because as we ALL know - instinctively of course, there's no need to actually UNDERSTAND technology - no system anywhere will be effected by Y2K. Yup. Better put that Fire Department on the list of idiots who've been taken in by the Global Consultant Conspiracy. ;)

-- Colin MacDonald (roborogerborg@yahoo.com), November 17, 1999.

" ... more than half the city's stations have the same problem."

-- need to fix that (uncontrollable@fires.Y2K), November 17, 1999.

Just to give you a little more background on the fire fighters in Montreal:

During the last labour dispute they had there were many instances of fire hoses being spiked and fire engines being sabotaged. These guys play hardball (even if the Expos don't!) when it comes to negotiation. To hell with the public that they ostensibly serve.

-- Johnny Canuck (j_canuck@hotmail.com), November 17, 1999.

Y2K COMPLIANCE SPARKED FIRE-HALL FIREBALL
(Source: The Montreal Gazette)

Attempts by the city of Montreal to stave off a Y2K computer disaster are being blamed for causing the blaze that gutted Fire Station 26 in Plateau Mont Royal on Monday night.

And the Montreal firefighters' union is saying that more than half the city's fire stations face the same computer problem - making them accidents just waiting to happen.

Monday's blaze was determined by police to be accidental, after a firefighter left a batch of french fries cooking on the station's stove when he responded to a fire on nearby Iberville St.

But fire-department officials also confirmed yesterday that a breaker switch designed to shut off the stove when firefighters respond to a call had been disabled when the city made its computer systems Y2K ready .

``Indirectly, the city is responsible for this fire,'' said Station 26 Captain Jean Langlois.

He said he had asked the city many times to repair the faulty system. ``The last time we wrote a letter about this was Nov. 9.''

The blaze caused about $500,000 worth of damage and closed the fire station indefinitely. Forty firefighters were transferred - some to Station 16 on Rachel St. on the Plateau and the rest to Station 20, on St. Antoine St. W., in Old Montreal.

The fire also displaced the community group Eco-Quartier and the third-floor office of Montreal councillor Richard Theoret, who in 1996 fought to keep century-old Fire Station 26 open.

Division chief Ronald Dubeau said yesterday that the automatic shutoff system was disabled in all of Montreal's 48 stations a few months ago, so the city could install its new Y2K -proof computers . He also said the system has since been reconnected in all but four or five of the stations.

The union contests that point, however, saying most of the city's stations do not have working breaker switches.

``Contrary to what they're saying, we know that in the vast majority of the city's stations the automatic system is not working,'' union president Gaston Fauvel said.

And Fauvel also said the firefighters have been asking the city to fix the system for months, but city officials have refused to do anything about it.

The automatic system has been replaced with a manual one, in which a button must be pressed, but the union is charging that it's also broken in a number of stations.

Fauvel said firefighters from Station 26 told him they are sure someone hit the manual shutoff before they left for the Iberville St. fire, but it didn't work.

Fire department officials have not confirmed that version of the story. ``We have been told the button was pressed, but whether or not that is the case is still under investigation,'' Dubeau said.

Dubeau said damage to the building is not structural and it will survive the fire. He could not say how long it will take before the station can reopen.

The 100-year-old building on Mount Royal Ave. once served as town hall for the village of De Lorimier, which was annexed by Montreal in 1909, and has since been classified as a heritage site by Quebec and the city.

Theoret said yesterday the city has to act fast if it wants to make sure no more damage is done. ``At least they have to look at heating the interior, because otherwise the pipes could freeze and burst.''

At the station yesterday, firefighters gathered on the sooty, water-soaked main floor, waiting to clear out their lockers.

Amid the debris were sacks of soggy puzzles, games and donated toys, intended for Christmas baskets for needy children.

Ron Horwood, 52, who lives a block away, said he was disturbed to hear that the loss of the station means the average response time to a call will be six minutes rather than four.

``A fire department on fire, it seems impossible,'' Horwood said. ``The houses here are all connected. If a fire started at one place, the whole block would go up. Now, with stations far away, if they're at a fire somewhere else we're done for.''

-- fires burning (cities@burn.down), November 17, 1999.