Gilles Fluet was grabbing a drink with some friends at Musi-Café, their local bar, on that fateful hot summer night in July 2013 when he suddenly felt the urge to leave.
Not five minutes after Fluet crossed the train tracks that run through town on his walk home, downtown Lac-Mégantic, Que., went up in flames.
“I left at 1:05 a.m. The train passed here at about 1:10 a.m.,” said Fluet, standing in the spot 50 metres from where the runaway train barrelled past.
“I was walking, and I felt something strange behind my back, and I turned around,” he said. “I didn’t even
