IceStorm 98 Study

Your involvement with the ice storm was primarily as a volunteer?

Yes.

How did you get involved in the storm as a volunteer?

We ended up leaving our home on Thursday morning and went to stay in a hotel for Thursday night. At that point we decided that the power outage was probably going to last longer than what we had anticipated, so we bunked in with my sister-in-law. By the Saturday evening I was looking for something to do and also I wanted to give my sister-in-law and her family a break. I decided to go down to City Hall and see what I could do. Having published a newspaper in a small, rural community, I was used to being heavily involved in the community and in municipal politics. We recently moved to Kingston from Elgin, so I went from knowing all the people involved in politics to not knowing who was running and what the issues were. So I thought this would be a good opportunity to walk into City Hall and see what was going on.

How did you sell yourself or let them know that you had talent they could use?

I went in on the Saturday evening and got directed towards volunteer drivers. I took a couple of runs but there were far more drivers than there were assignments. I was wandering around the lobby of City Hall and I picked up a sheet that showed who was doing what in terms of disaster management. I noticed that Bill Bishop, the HR manager, was responsible for press releases, so I thought I might be able to help out in this area. I assumed the city would have a very well established press or information office. When I asked around, I was surprised at the enthusiastic response to having me get involved. I talked to Bill Bishop around 11 o’clock that evening and we agreed that it would be best if I came in on Sunday morning and we arranged a meeting with Sheila Birrell, who was taking over responsibility for press releases. I came in on Sunday morning and sat down with Donna Pothaar and Sheila and started looking at what we had to do. The first thing we did was set up a communications plan and that included what topics and information should be going out, and how routinely press releases should be going out. We established a schedule of having a press release go out every six hours.

As a volunteer, did you find the chain of command really tight or was there lots of room for your input?

As a former MBA student, I was awed by what I saw in terms of the management. In fact, I would have found it fascinating just to sit and watch what was going on, but at the same time part of the good management, I thought, was that people were assigned tasks and there was no interference. I felt that whatever I had to offer was very much welcomed. There was a very good team environment despite the fact that most of the people didn’t know each other.

How were decisions made? Was the hierarchy in place?

In the group I was working with, everything was based on consensus. We would put together a press release and then it would go before either Gardner Church or the Mayor for approval. There was some ‘tweeking’ of particular bits of information, but essentially they would accept what we had prepared.

How about communication? Was it informal rather than formal?

More informal. There were four or five of us at various points working on the information releases. After the first day, we established a schedule where there would be one person who basically assumed responsibility for particular information releases and I had the sense that that structure was well supported. I think good communication was very effective in that situation.

Do you think communications were given as much priority as providing hard machinery or transportation during the ice storm?

No. I don’t think it was, especially in the beginning and I think that perhaps late on the Saturday evening there was some recognition that communication was important. On Monday at noon hour there was one of the disaster planning committee meetings. I spoke very briefly with Mayor Bennett and one of his comments was that he was realizing how important communications was. I think the city learned some lessons on how it conducts itself in terms of the media.

In terms of the group’s relationship with the media, what worked and what didn’t?

I don’t think there was too much that didn’t work. We worked better with the media maybe because I had some background. For instance, the very obvious first question to me was, “What was the Whig Standard’s deadline?” No one had asked that question, because no one knew the way newspapers worked, so when we were setting a schedule for press releases that was built in to the plan. I was involved until Tuesday. On that day I noticed that there was a lot more picking up of the telephone and calling the radio stations when there was a specific piece of information to report.

Did you have occasion to interact with the national media, the CBC, and if so how did you find the coverage?

I didn’t have time really to notice their coverage. I had some dealings with CBC Radio. They had a crew that came in on the Sunday afternoon. I took a lot of satisfaction in the fact that because I had some media background, I could guess what they were interested in and what they needed to know and I think I was helpful in that respect. I was able to suggest story leads to Gillian Sadinsky who does the CBC Ontario morning reports from Kingston.

How were your priorities set? Was it relatively easy and obvious to prioritize or was there a lot of debate?

Not a lot of debate. The plan that we set out on Sunday morning was still in effect by Tuesday night. We were backing off the six-hour press release cycle by Tuesday night. By that time, my own view was that the crisis had passed and things were becoming more operational. The priorities didn’t change after we set the plan on Sunday. There was no benefit in arguing about or discussing priorities; it was more beneficial just to do the job.

I assume the division of labour developed naturally based on people’s fortés?

Yes. More on people’s time. I felt there was no distinction between people who were staff of the city and the volunteers and I thought that was great. On the Sunday night, we established a schedule of who would take what shift. Once the assignments were made, there wasn’t much more in the division of responsibilities.

Did you have any emergency training before this?

No. The only background I could claim was having sat in on a mock disaster that was run in north Leeds while we were publishing the paper. That was the only hint of any disaster management that I had seen.

There is apparently a new plan in the works in the city now. What do you think would be an integral part of the emergency plan?

Not knowing what the original plan was, I would hope that in a modified plan there would be a communications component. I suspect that a lot of municipalities would be looking at how you handle an infrastructure disaster. I would hope that the scope of disaster planning will change. I was in awe watching Gardner Church handle the emergency group meetings. First of all he was very deferential to Mayor Bennett. I never got the sense that he overstepped what was appropriate, but at the same time he seemed to have dissected the handling of the disaster into strategic areas, e.g. the shelter strategy, the hydro strategy. Each area would provide a status report. Mr. Church was always very calm and very much in control of the situation.

Did you have contact with provincial or federal bodies?

No.

Was stress a factor for you and if so, how did you handle it? At one point it was. I felt stressed at times when I thought an agenda other than disaster management was starting to come into what we were doing in the way of press releases. We went from doing information releases to starting to do press releases and I found that stressful. I made it clear that I would not get involved in that area. There was one point on the Sunday evening, where I took a walk until some matters were resolved and then I came back.

Was it trying for your family?

Yes. I think the perception was that dad was out having fun while the family was stuck in someone else’s house. I found it remarkable, having talked to people afterwards, how so many people suffered so much stress in their general situation and found life so disrupted.

Can you give me any anecdotal moments or anything that stands out in your mind that is particular amusing? An event?

I don’t know about amusing, but I think one of the most striking things that I saw was standing in the lobby and listening to a group of firefighters. Two of them — one of them had on a Kingston Fire Department jacket and the other had on a Kingston Township Fire Department jacket — had obviously been talking. One of them said, “Oh. So you are so and so.” Obviously they had been working together on the management of this crisis and obviously they would be working together in the amalgamated city, but this was the first time they could put a face to a name. I think there was a great deal of this going on. As an observer I thought that was very interesting. I heard the comment a lot around City Hall: “You couldn’t buy a better team-building exercise for the amalgamated city.”

I remember a gentleman, who was probably in his late 30s or early 40s, whom I spoke to and I believe he said he was a city taxi driver, who was there on the Saturday night when I arrived and I got the impression he didn’t leave. At one point his wife was there as well. He was one of the volunteer drivers and when he spoke to me I got a very clear sense that he planned to hang out until the whole thing was over and done with. On Tuesday night, I remember stressing to him that he should go home and get some sleep. I was impressed by his effort.

Do you live in the downtown core by any chance?

Yes. I live in the McBurney Park area. During my first few days at City Hall I kept hearing how it was one of the hardest hit areas and that it would be one of the longest areas without power. Our power went off around 1 or 2 on Thursday morning. About 5 o’clock the power came back on and I got up and sat at my computer and did some work until 7. The power then went out for about 20 minutes. At about 8 o’clock it went out again and was out for 6 days. We could see branches falling in the park and it became obvious the situation would get worse before it would get better.

What are your impressions of the shape the city was in?

The area looked as close to a war scene as I ever want to see. There was fear also when you saw the hydro wires down all over the place. When I would drive up Queen Street on the left hand would be normal living and on the right hand side everything was black. There was also a fear of looting. At one point, streets around the park were blocked and people were driving through the middle of McBurney Park.

What was the atmosphere like at City Hall headquarters?

There was a lot of chaos. But there was a certain element of fun. One of the things I joked about was the difficulty staff might have returning to a 9 to 5 pace after the storm has passed.

Is there anything you want to add? Do you think the city is much the wiser after what has happened?

I certainly hope so. I carry away a lot of curiosity about the city and the impact of the changed management issues that the city was obviously going through beforehand and the impact of the ice storm. I am sure there are some staff who really shone during the whole experience. Jim Keech did an incredible job in getting the hydro service back on and managing that.