Gérard and Monique have been married for nearly 40 years. They live on Champlain Street in
Lac-Mégantic, a few metres from the railroad. Their home is in the red zone, which has been evacuated since the terrible night of the train derailment.
“When it happened, I was just getting up to go to the bathroom,” said Gérard. “I heard the train coming. I said to myself: it can’t be the train coming that fast. I thought it was an aircraft that was going to crash.”
He went back to bed, and that was when he saw the huge fireball.
“It burned me. Inside the house, we could feel the heat from our bed. My wife woke up and said, ‘I’ll go close the window.’ She thought it was a thunderstorm. The window handle was hot to the touch. I then yelled to my wife to go and wake our son – we had to get out of there,” added Gérard. Monique’s first reaction was to take the hose and sprinkle the house because the siding was melting. “I told her to leave that, and take the car. I went to wake my neighbour and help them evacuate.”
Gérard eventually reached the reception centre run by the Red Cross at 9 a.m., nearly 8 hours after the disaster struck. “I stayed on the site all that time, helping people get away. They asked me if I was afraid, and I said no: the adrenaline had kicked in,” he added. Gérard learned about the shelter that had been set up in the Montignac secondary school from watching television. “They were asking all evacuees to register. I told the people I was with: if your families are looking for you, at least your names will be on the list.”
Once they arrived at Montignac secondary school, they were greeted by Red Cross volunteers. Gérard had a message for them: “My hat is off to you! This is the first time I have seen something like this. When you’ve never been through a disaster, you don’t know what happens. Well done! You make quite a team! The help we get here is wonderful.”
He went on: “If the volunteers spot that you are having a hard time, they come and talk to you. Sometimes, you know, just being able to talk about it helps. My wife, for example, she is more affected than I am. That morning, the adrenaline had worn off, and she was crying more. There was one volunteer I saw twice the same day. I saw her in the morning, and in the afternoon she came back to see me, and asked, ‘How’s it going?’ We chatted.”
On July 19, those evacuated from the yellow and red zones still have not been allowed to return home. That sector is still too dangerous, and some of the people evacuated have lost everything. The Red Cross is taking care of them and providing emergency assistance with essentials like food, clothing and accommodation. The volunteers will remain on site as long as they are needed, helping all those affected by the disaster, and continuing to listen to their stories.
To help with our efforts, please
donate to the Lac Mégantic fund.