IceStorm 98 Study

I’m Keith Patterson, a St. Joseph’s Catholic School (Prescott) student in grade 7. I was only 12 when I was asked to do an interview for Queen’s University. I chose Bruce Wylie to interview and this is his story:

I knew when I woke up in the morning (Thursday January 8th), that there had been some damage done, but I didn’t know how big it was. I saw trees on the ground and on my own yard. When I got to work the lights on the phone were all lit-up from people calling and since we don’t have anyone working at the radio station between 12:00 am and 5:00 am none of them were answered. All the callers asked “When are we going to get our power back?’ And the power in Brockville was still on at this time so we didn’t know that this was an emergency. On my way to work I kept thinking to myself, that the buses would be cancelled and that everyone would want to know that, but the schools were cancelled and that usually never happens. That kind of alerted me that this was wide spread. We got ready to go on the air at the radio station to get the information out at about 6:00 that morning. We got some calls from people at that time.

At about 6:55 that morning our power went out and the radio does have a generator but it didn’t kick in. It wasn’t until that time that we got (a lot of) phone calls. Our phone at the station doesn’t ring, it lights up, and it couldn’t light up if the power was gone so we would just pick up the phone and say, “Hi, CFJR,” and hope someone was there. Every time we did that someone was there and they all had the same question we had, “When is the power going to come on?”, and we didn’t know that but some people asked, “Are schools cancelled?”, and we were able to provide them with that information. It wasn’t until 8:25 am when we got our power back. Our generator had to be jump started the same way you jump start a car. Around that time Gord Eamer called, the chairman of the PUC in Brockville and told me that Brockville was going to be without power for days. And I said “What? Cities don’t lose power for days!” That is when we made the effort to get back on the air. And we thought that only Brockville was out but it turns out that it was more wide spread than we had thought. At 9:00 I started the talk show I do and I got calls from all over. One of the questions I asked was “If your power is out phone so we can see how wide spread this is”. And then we got a lot of calls. I then knew that it was going to be hard for people to get stuff that they needed. Some stayed on the air past 10:00 am which is when the talk show ends and we helped people. At 12:00 we were asked to take a break for the news at noon which was fine. We didn’t go back on the air until 1:00 p.m. and I said “We’re staying on to help people.” And we did.

I think the biggest thing during this time was that people were not prepared for this. They didn’t have the batteries, the kerosene and so on. I don’t think that coping with the cold and ice was a big problem because we live in Canada and we’re used to cold weather. We weren’t prepared and I think if this was to happen again people would be prepared.

I did not have power at my house, we have electric heat and we have no other source of heat. There was no big problem at my house other than the fact that we had no power. It was eerie coming home that first night not seeing any lights and it was cold in my house. All our honey suckles were laying down and there was a wire down at my house. My family got an invitation to stay somewhere else that had a fire place and that made a difference. The next morning I went into work at 4:30 to keep giving out information.

If it was to happen again I think people would be prepared, they would have the flashlights, the batteries, a source of heat other than electric heat. There were people who were concerned about their flooded basement or farmers who couldn’t milk their cows by hand or if they could where would they put the milk? A lot of people had to leave homes and go to shelters.

I myself didn’t have trouble getting to work but a lot of other people did. And even when the power did get back on they maybe couldn’t go to work because of problems they had at home and their bosses had no problem with that. I know Brock Telecom told their employees to stay home and fix their emergencies and they would get paid.

I heard a lot of stories and one that I really liked was when a lady phoned in asking if anyone had a wick because she couldn’t get to a store because her leg was broken and a lot of people phoned and said they had wicks and one person came to the station with a wick and asked me to give it to the lady. Since my wife and I were going there anyway we brought the wick to her and when she saw us she gave us a big hug and said that we were the 30th people to give her a wick. Another story I liked was an elderly couple who phoned in and said that they were waiting for a phone call from the woman’s doctor in Kingston and they were wondering what to do. They had no power and they didn’t want to leave their home. I said that we could have people take them to Kingston but they didn’t want to. And the man asked if he could say Happy Birthday to wife on the air since it was her birthday and I said sure. I think that was a touching story. I saw the generosity in people as I was doing this extended talk show. I think if God had a purpose for this storm it was to make us look inwardly at ourselves and help other people, and to bring people together. We had friends helping friends and strangers helping strangers.

Money was not a concern for me but maybe for others because they couldn’t get money or they needed money to buy groceries and a generator.

I’ll take you through the days of the ice storm: Thursday I felt a bit of disbelief; you know a city without power, a whole area without power. I think I actually pinched myself to see if this was real. Friday morning was really low for me because there was a thunder storm and it was raining real hard. The mayor came in those two days and every time he’d come he’d say that there were a couple of poles down, then four, then eight and when he got to fifty-one I told him I didn’t want to see him again because every time he came there was more bad news. That day I said that we had to get down on our knees and pray to God that this storm ends. On Saturday our prayers had been answered! The rain had stopped and the ice was melting. One of the things I said on the radio was stay away from the trees and wires because they could all come down. Sunday around 10 am and 12 p.m .the radio station got power and so did my house. And people from all over called and said we have POWER! And everyone was cheering.

I myself did not have an emergency plan and I think most people didn’t either. If it was to happen again I think people would have a plan.

I was very proud of everyone from volunteer fire fighters to regular fire fighters. The people really helped out. The hydro workers helped out a lot and my own kids helped feed the hydro workers during those long nights. MP Joe Jordan did a good job of handling the situation.

If there was a reason for this it was to bring people together and make us a bit more caring. From this experience people met their neighbours for the first time and helped them! It was so nice how people got along.

That is Bruce Wylie’s story. I think the ice storm was a very big horrible thing but it also brought people together. I remember driving down the roads and seeing trees falling down and ice was everywhere. It was scary, it was like another Ice Age but we beat it and survived.

For more information check the interview tape with Me (Keith Patterson) interviewing Bruce Wylie.

Bruce Wylie

Bruce is a talk show radio host. He works for CFJR and he is a husband and father. During the ice storm, Bruce provided information to people. He is a very nice guy and was helpful during the ice storm.

Keith Patterson

I was born in 1985 and hope to be a successful actor by the year 2000. I really enjoy writing and I hope to write a movie as well. I was very happy when I found out I was going to write and interview and I hope I can do it again. I also enjoy building things with my Dad, (Gary Patterson), and going fishing with my Grandpa, (Frank McCormac), and my uncles. I would like to thank my Mom, (Marlene Patterson ) for recording the interview.