IceStorm 98 Study

Carol Duggan woke on the morning of 8 January and was called to a meeting of the Emergency Control Group (ECG) but the group had not yet declared an emergency although they were preparing to. A decision was made to open a shelter to provide hot coffee and soup and then the emergency was declared the next morning. Carol Duggan says she began to realize the extent of the emergency Friday morning when the communications went down and more people showed up at the shelter -- roughly 13 people slept in the shelter (Kinsmen Hall) on the Thursday night and as reports became updated Carol Duggan realized they were going to have to go "full tilt."

Carol Duggan says that she was responsible for the social services aspect of any emergency response. She was delivered to the Kinsman hall which was in the process of being set up. They went out and purchased some staples to provide hot drinks and hot dogs for people looking to get out of the cold, and 13 stayed overnight. Friday morning, as the magnitude of the event set in, Carol Duggan started setting up a schedule for manning the kitchen and an area for managing the flow of information and organization of volunteers. Carol Duggan solicited donations like mattresses, beds and cots -- a press release was prepared telling people what they were to bring to the Kinsman Hall if they came to spend the night at the shelter.

Friday was taken up with ensuring that people were comfortable and that needs were being met. She also had 100 cots and blankets delivered from Ottawa and they were set up. Carol Duggan says she turned the kitchen over to the Kinsman Kinettes and set up separate sleep areas so that people could actually rest away from where other people were coming and going -- mostly emergency workers. Carol Duggan says she dealt with issues as they came up, doing registration, providing meals as required, providing toys to occupy the kids -- "nothing really spectacular." Carol Duggan worked with Kerry Kasurak and her volunteers to provide people with their needs. Carol Duggan says she had a lot of volunteers and they were organized into 4-6 hour shifts with Carol Duggan taking the midnight shift with one Kinsman.

Carol Duggan says her authority comes from the emergency plan, she is designated by the plan, and the ultimate authority is the mayor. The group met to review what was happening, make forecasts, and so forth. Carol Duggan says that she does not recall having her authority questioned except by people who did not want to be told that they could not smoke in the shelter. Carol Duggan has done the courses at Arnprior -- 4 of them -- so was well prepared to manage her part of the emergency. Carol Duggan says this was the first emergency that she had gone through and it did take her some time to get rolling, that there's a lot involved. Out in the rural areas, she says, things were more strenuous -- they even closed down the shelter on Tuesday night and moved people into motel rooms. There were some sick babies with GI infections and since the numbers of people were declining she thought it was wise not to have people coming into the shelter and getting sick. Carol Duggan had to secure accommodations for 5 people after the shelter was closed, and they were back in their homes by Friday.

Money was not a concern. Carol Duggan says that the majority of things required were donated outright from the "wonderful community" -- from the grocery stores and from individuals who dropped off food. Carol Duggan says that they did get a bill for the cost of running the hall (a portion thereof). Carol Duggan never thought about money -- she thought it would come from somewhere -- and in any event there were no major expenses (in excess of $1,000). Carol Duggan says that once people realized that the town was in a state of emergency they started coming out of the wood work to help each other.

Carol Duggan says that she made decisions in conjunction with the control group or with Kerry -- sickness of babies and so forth -- and they kept each other posted or in conjunction with the control group.

Carol Duggan says that communication was a "sore spot" because they had only one line for in and out. By Sunday Bell Canada notified Carol Duggan that they were going to set up an emergency line -- Chief Brett's intervention -- and that they were going to allow the pay phone outside the hall to be used toll free, which took pressure off the shelter's phone.

Carol Duggan says that some phone lines were out as long as the power was out and some phone lines were up all the time. Carol Duggan says that she was in touch with Kerry Kasurak often, directly and by phone.

Carol Duggan says that she followed the rule that everything should go out through a formalized press release, and they came from the operations centre at the police station.

Carol Duggan says she worked mostly with the Kinsman Club members (particularly Pres. Vern & wife Paula Turcotte). Carol Duggan has praise for the Kinsman Club. They did everything from entertaining the kids to cleaning up the shelter to running the kitchen.

Carol Duggan says that she identified needs and delegated -- that some people who stayed in the shelter took it on themselves to keep the bathrooms clean or sweep the floors. The health unit insisted on proper management of the kitchen and Carol Duggan stayed out of it.

Carol Duggan says that priorities were set by "whatever needed to be done was done." Tasks were identified and people were delegated to do them. Carol Duggan says that the majority of volunteers showed up during the day. Carol Duggan says that her power was only off for a couple of hours -- that she was one of the lucky ones.

Carol Duggan says that "once we got on track ... everything worked well." They have a list of people who used the shelter. Katimivik kids came in to work with and entertain the children (parents were stressed out even if kids thought it was a treat).

Carol Duggan says that she and Kerry have discussed what did not work well and concluded that they need to update their procedures -- in tandem with the town. The basic core group is going to do that, that updating the plan is primary, that communications were problematic -- portable radios are needed -- because if there had been a major problem it would have been difficult to get someone (a cop) there quickly. There should have been a fax set up and this suggestion is going forward to council.

Carol Duggan says that the smaller towns don't exercise their plans often enough -- that a major overhaul of all elements of the plan is needed. Carol Duggan says that the chief set up a door to door -- particularly in the interests of the elderly people in the west ward, some of whom had pets. Carol Duggan says they never thought about the condition of pets, but the Humane Society took responsibility for taking care of pets. Companion pets: there was no provision made for them in the shelter and this made elderly people reluctant to leave their homes.

Carol Duggan says the biggest problem was the initial organization -- that Carol Duggan is not proud of her behaviour in the first few hours. She has a mother in Carveth (the nursing home) and she thinks her personal interest got engaged in her job response, and that she was concerned about evacuating the nursing home. Carol Duggan thinks that some of the people at the nursing home would not have survived the evacuation. Carol Duggan says the biggest challenge was shifting gears into emergency mode -- because the control group had never met so it took a while to shake down. Carol Duggan says it was overwhelming notwithstanding her training. Also Carol Duggan is the only person in her office -- she does not work with a team. She's it. Carol Duggan believes that the volunteers will be contacted and a list maintained.

Carol Duggan says that she would enter another emergency with a clear head and better prepared to "act on things a lot faster." Carol Duggan says that she's going to push for backup power generator for the Town Hall if that is going to be the centre of operations -- and that the centre should be distinct from the centre of emergency response (police and fire). Carol Duggan says that the town should have backup phones and power and that town hall should be prepared to handle another like emergency. Carol Duggan says that it is recognized that this is necessary.

Carol Duggan says that every department should have their own plan that addresses all the issues they are required to look at. Carol Duggan says that there should be at least one person from the Municipal Control Group attending the CAER group in Brockville -- and that that trend should continue.

The existing emergency plan was useful to the extent that it delegated who was to do what, but it was not kept up to date. The emergency plan does not take priority in most places, because it is not something that is of immediate concern.

Carol Duggan says that one should always plan for the worst case scenario.

Carol Duggan says that all media contact and contact with external organizations went through the mayor or chief of police.

Carol Duggan says that they went through a critical impact stress debriefing -- a half-day session for the non-emergency responders to blow off steam. Carol Duggan says that she was aware of the stress upon her by the end of the event when things were winding down -- when she began to realize that she could stand down she became very tired. She has since caught up but her job is stressful too.

Carol Duggan says that everyone felt the stress and that it manifested in short tempers and frustration, feeling overwhelmed and so forth. Social Services has set up sessions to "Train the Trainers" -- and coordination of workshops to deal with post-traumatic stress manifestations. They are thinking about creating coloring books for kids, videos for adults, and so forth.

Carol Duggan says that she is more disorganized than she was before the event -- which is disturbing -- and that she has trouble settling down to things. She says she has a lot of work-related stress too, so she does not really know where one leaves off and the other begins. Carol Duggan says she has nothing to share with us on costs, phone logs, or otherwise.

Carol Duggan says she met some interesting people and that there were humorous moments, but no good stories for us.