Home Celebrations Thousands attended Laval’s 2024 Firemen’s Festival

Thousands attended Laval’s 2024 Firemen’s Festival

‘Fête des pompiers’ now known simply as GFPL

Just as the CEO of Quebec’s largest home-grown telecommunications and media company has come to be known by the three initials of his name, the City of Laval’s Grande Fête des pompiers now stands abbreviated in many Laval residents’ minds simply as GFPL.

More than 200 firefighters from the Laval Fire Dept. were on hand to greet the thousands of moms, dads and kids who turned out June 1-2 for the Grande Fête des pompiers de Laval at Collège Montmorency. (Photo: Martin C. Barry, Laval News)
A neat collection of some of the vintage fire trucks that came in from many parts of Quebec, as well as from outside, for the city’s annual Fête des pompiers de Laval. (Photo: Martin C. Barry, Laval News)

Exciting fire trucks

After being staged for many years at the Centropolis mall, the annual Firemen’s Festival took place for the second time on June 1-2 on the outdoor grounds at Collège Montmorency in Laval’s downtown sector.

The ever-popular parade of fire trucks, with sirens and warning signals screaming, took place Saturday morning. Starting around 9:30 am, they made their way from Laval’s industrial park, towards the rendez-vous point at the Centropolis by around 10:30.

A learning experience

Saturday and Sunday from 9:30 am to 4 pm, the festival site was filled with a range of activities, including educational kiosks on fire prevention and safety, a car accident simulation, firefighter museum artefacts, fire truck displays and more.

There were even demonstrations of cooking by some of the more kitchen-savvy firefighters, whose sense of haute-cuisine has become well-developed from years of preparing hearty meals in the firehouse kitchen while waiting for emergency calls to come in.