Quebec firefighter, 20, drowns during training

Police are investigating the death of a volunteer young firefighter from Hudson, Que., who drowned during a training exercise Monday night.

Officers from the Sûreté du Québec were called to Lac des Deux Montagnes, 35 kilometres west of Montreal, just before 9 p.m. Monday.

Police say four firefighters were taking part in the exercise when 20-year-old James Ratcliffe was thrown from their boat.

Ratcliffe may have hit his head on the side of the boat as he fell into the water, said police spokesman Jayson Gauthier.

The other three firefighters rescued him, but he was declared dead overnight at Lakeshore Hospital.

Investigators with the Sûreté du Québec and the provincial Workplace Health and Safety Board are investigating.

On Tuesday, mourners placed flowers and cards on the windshield of a yellow hatchback parked in front of Hudson's fire station.

The car belonged to Ratcliffe, a straight-A University of Ottawa arts student who had just started his third year as a volunteer firefighter in the borough about 60 kilometres west of Montreal.

"James was a great kid," said his father, Peter Ratcliffe. "He died doing what he loved, surrounded by the people he loved."