IceStorm 98 Study

Barry King, the Chief of Police of Brockville, is directly responsible for a community of over 21,000 people. The station has a total of 40 officers and support staff. The chief has had previous experience with disasters when he was attached to the Peel region office.

At 8:45 on the morning of January 8, the chief was called to a meeting at the Gord Watts Building and was informed that Ontario Hydro had a severe problem on its hands outside of the Brockville area and that the city was about to lose power for an indeterminate length of time.

The Emergency Operations Group was also in attendance so it was decided to prepare an overall assessment of the situation. Coincidentally, the group had just revised the plan during the previous month so it was to all intends and purposes up to date.

BK indicated the his building, the Fire Station and the Hospital all had backup power so that there was no immediate danger. The chief remarked to the mayor that thankfully they had spent the money to provide these reserve systems. The situation would have been extremely unstable if these backup systems had not been installed.

The first priority of the group was to obtain weather reports and get some estimation of the time frame of the power outage.

The chief complimented the C.A.O. on his performance in that he didn’t co-manage, he co-ordinated relief efforts. Mr. Brian Switzer, the C.A.O. of the City of Brockville had complete confidence in his police and fire chiefs and asked only that they keep him up to date on developments. After reports started to arrive giving him an overall picture of the situation, the next priority for the chief and his staff was the safety of the community and how to convey timely and accurate information to the public. This is when the public service announcements started.

The chief found that he had been designated as the media officer for the city, when according to the plan it was the Economic Development Officer had was assigned this position. The chief explained that in times of emergency, having been through a few himself when he was attached to the Peel region, people wanted to hear from someone who is in authority. This is an extremely accurate perception, and one that should be bourne in mind in the design of any emergency plan. This perception was confirmed as events unfolded.

The mayor assumed a role which was similar to that of the C.A.O. in that he allowed the front line staff to get on with the job they knew how to accomplish without interference. Again, he solicited advice and wanted to be kept informed of the progress and problems. This approach worked effectively and earned the respect of the control group.

The next problem concerned fuel supplies and the chief suddenly realized that the closest gas supply was 40 miles away. As police arrived from other jurisdictions they required fuel. BK’s own fleet was running out of fuel. This situation persisted until arrangements were made with a supplier to the west of Kingston to bring fuel to his local garage where the generators would operate the pumps. The chief recalled that one station along the 401 had managed to obtain a generator but when it was activated it “fried” the whole system.

As a result of this incident, the chief is aware that the Ontario Provincial Police have made a recommendation that stations operating on government property along the 401 must have emergency power capability at least on a couple of pumps and that priority be given to emergency vehicles.

The local radio station made themselves completely at the disposal of the emergency agencies and increased their power to reach a broader area.

Thankfully, both the police and fire stations are new buildings equipped with the latest communication systems. Communications were essential to the whole operation.

The chief had to staff city hall since the main switchboard had to be monitored. There was no heat or power in the building so the volunteers were bundled up against the cold and answered the phones at all hours.

The public was told that at all intersections where the lights had gone out were to be treated as four way stops. A few days into the storm local P.U.C. crews could be seen erecting 4 - way stop signs at the intersections.

Brockville has twice the national average of senior citizens and as the emergency extended into the third day BK was beginning to worry about their welfare. The main concern was that a great number of people who had retired to Brockville had come from other regions of the country and therefore had no relatives nearby who could offer them assistance. In many instances they were single people living alone. A community watch was organized where people were asked to check on their immediate neighbours. Take nothing for granted, they were told, but just check to make sure. If assistance was required, then call 911 or call on other emergency organizations. The biggest problem was in getting the older people to leave. On the third day the temperature fell drastically and the risk of hypothermia set in. The Medical Officer of Health signed an order authorizing the authorities to start emergency evacuations of the senior citizens buildings. In all. 270 people were evacuated leaving a small determined number of able bodied men behind to watch the buildings.

One of the evacuees was a former Chief of the Brockville Police Department. At 95 years of age, Wilmot Young, who had been chief for 40 years, was irritated by the fact that he was being removed to a “shelter”. The connotation of the use of the word “shelter” was not lost on him, nor on many others. It would have been easier to refer to it as an evacuation centre.

When the mayor called E.M.O. requesting assistance, he was informed that he had a fire chief who used to belong to the Ontario Fire Marshal’s Office and a Police Chief who was with Peel region who had been involved in emergency situations before. E.M.O. had been overwhelmed by the storm and suggested to the mayor that he had people who he could comfortably rely upon to do the job.

The police station had showers, lockers and their own kitchen, so they were well set up to handle the personnel. With more than half of his people living outside the city the station was well equipped to meet their needs.

Patrols were augmented by members of the R.C.M.P. Jails had to be evacuated to Belleville which provided the chief with additional manpower. He could now staff his patrol cars with two officers which greatly relieved the obvious stress factor. The dispatch function was also split up to accommodate the increased level of activity. The radio station performed an important function in this respect when it opened its lines to callers who needed assistance. Once a need became known, others called in to offer help.

The Standard Church became a food and supply depot once it was broadcast that they were looking for supplies and were prepared to pick them up. The Church then distributed them to those in need. Once the emergency was over, the Standard Church arranged for a convoy to deliver whatever was left to Quebec.

Although Prescott and Smiths Falls had set up curfews, the chief felt that he was capable of handling the situation. The 5 R.C.M.P. constables and 5 jail guards that assisted his officers meant that he could schedule patrols and shifts more comfortably. Over the period of the storm, with alarms and security systems down throughout the city, Brockville had only 8 break-ins. BK made it quite clear to his officers that they had the authority to impose a curfew if they felt that conditions warranted such a step. If they happened to come upon an individual walking around the downtown section who appeared suspicious , they entered their name in a log. Over the radio the chief warned that anybody caught breaking into any premises would have “the book” thrown at them. Those who were caught and convicted were sentenced to lengthy jail terms.

By stationing a police officer in each of the evacuation centres BK ensured that any difficulties that arose would be handled quickly and effectively. At certain times there were up to 3,000 people at Thousand Islands Secondary. Drawing on his experience from the chemical disaster that occurred in Peel several years ago, BK was well aware of the potential for trouble. If the officer wanted to go home after a long shift, he had a replacement to take his place.

Whenever the chief made a public service announcement, he made a point of stopping by at all of the evacuation centres to pass on the information to those in charge so that they could announce it to the public assembled in the centres.

Helicopters which appeared in the city allowed the police and fire chiefs to perform an ariel assessment of the damage in the area. Township officials were also flown over their areas to survey damage. It was certainly an advantage in one case where it was discovered that trees had fallen into rivers and creeks in North Augusta. As soon as the spring thaw arrived, those trees would cause massive flooding further on down the river through several residential areas. They would have to be removed quickly.

Kriska Transport of Prescott offered the use of their trucks to the city. As material was arriving from all parts of North America, Kriska would dispatch drivers to pick up items whether they were in Pittsburgh P.A., Virginia, or Northern Ontario and transport them to Brockville. When supplies from Health Canada were offered in Ottawa, Kriska had 4 trucks over there within 25 minutes.

Supplies of Oxygen had to be obtained for those patients who required it. Lists of patients who were on homecare had to be identified.

The chief explained that 2 years ago, Brockville had been designated by the province as a Safe Community. A committee comprised of over 40 organizations meets every 2 months to review safety issues. Thanks to this network, the chief knew who he was dealing with when he had to call upon certain organizations for assistance. Networking in advance certainly made a big difference.

Up to date weather information enabled the control group to make realistic decisions. Brockville’s Works Department is linked to Weather Canada which provides instantaneous weather information and this was a critical factor in dealing with the storm.

An important suggestion that was put forward to the public was that even though you don’t want to relocate to an evacuation centre, at least get out of the house and visit the centres nearest your home to have a hot meal and alleviate cabin fever and warm up a bit.

BK requested PSA’s from the other agencies to feed to the public. The chief encouraged others to broadcast their messages over the air so that people could get a clearer indication of the situation. Although hesitant at first, they “grew” by going public with their announcements.

The chief discovered that Brockville had been “twinned” with the Kitchener-Waterloo region and one of the first calls he took was from the Chief of Police of the region asking him what he needed. The same routine occurred with the Fire Chief. Supplies started to arrive from the region. Two transport loads of cookies arrived in Brockville and were sent on to the Standard Church, which became the city grocery store.

St. John Ambulance brought in 60 ambulances to help out.

The chief had a number of excellent suggestions to make to improve the emergency plan. Certainly, changes have been enacted as a result of the storm, but to maintain the required level of confidence in the plan requires constant vigilance and training. It must be remembered that Brockville is in a high risk area. It is located in the flight path of several major airlines, it is situated along a major international water route, and it has a rail line and the 401 highway running through the center of town. It is imperative that the emergency plan take all these factors into consideration and that no expense be spared to ensure that the authorities are properly equipped to deal with whatever disaster may occur.

Co-operation and a sense of trust must exist between the municipalities and counties. This was often lacking.

Fortunately for the city, the chief has had some experience in dealing with disaster situations in the past. He referred to his involvement in the train derailment in Peel region which occurred several years ago. Chlorine gas had escaped into the atmosphere and posed a deadly threat to the community.

In most cases a disaster situation is over in a few hours. The storm created an emergency situation which lasted in certain cases up to two weeks. It was a learning experience whose lessons are certainly not lost on Barry King, Chief of Police of Brockville.