IceStorm 98 Study

During the ice storm, I was doing communications and press releases primarily. I worked with Sheila Birrell, who is the Director of Communications.

What are your recollections of the Wednesday evening before the storm?
I had met a friend after work and we went for a drink. When she drove me home, we found that she couldn’t go up the hill because it was too icy so I got out of the car and walked home. I live downtown in the Sydenham ward. It was really icy at that point, but I needed to do laundry so I went out that night. There was nobody else there at the laundry. It was the next morning before I realized the extent of the storm. I slept through the storm and the alarm didn’t go off. I looked outside and saw city park and the surrounding streets covered with branches and trees. I went to work as usual that Thursday morning. Midway through the morning, Gardner Church called me to come up to his office to do a press release. That is when I learned that the mayor had declared a state of emergency. He gave me some background and I issued my first press release. At that point I didn’t realize the full extent of what the situation would become. I did another press release at 5 and again at 7 p.m., all the time thinking that this would last just a couple of days. By Friday morning we realized that it was a lot more serious and that this could go on for a long time and that the situation was quite dangerous outside.

What message did the press release contain?
At first we were stressing the danger of being outside because there were so many fallen wires that could have been live. There was also the possibility that ice-laden branches could fall. We reassured people that we were doing what we could and pretty soon the establishment of the shelters kicked in. That became a large part of the press releases — advising people where to go for shelter. How about the authority to act in all this in the beginning especially?

I had only been in the job for five days. It was a newly created job. At the beginning, I was just going from day to day. Gardner Church would speak to me directly about what to do. Sheila Birrell, who has the overall responsibility for communications, was doing other things, e.g. setting up the core centre, etc. By Saturday night, there was a concern that it wasn’t enough to have just one person doing communications because it was necessary to keep the staff there for 24 hours a day. By this time we were getting calls from all across Canada so more staff were brought in. Every press release I did was checked by Gardner Church and the mayor or the mayor’s deputy. Gary Bennett was there practically all the time.

What about money? Were you people given a blank cheque because circumstances were so exceptional?
I had no occasion to purchase anything. Basically what I was doing was attending the meetings of the senior managers, the police and the firemen. It was important to be updated on what was happening and what would go into the press release.

Were you at the first meeting on the Thursday at Counter Street?
No.

What effect did the blackout have on the communications department and the specialists?
We released information to the print media and radio and television stations. We asked that if people knew of neighbours without power and a battery radio to check in on them. The local media played a vital role in getting the messages out and went out of their way to broadcast messages throughout the day. The CBC, Ottawa, Toronto, and French Radio Canada were also in touch with us. Because there was no specific communication plan for an emergency in place, we learned a lot from this experience.

Could you isolate what the biggest problem was for you?
I think in the beginning the biggest problem was getting a plan in place — having the managers know who I was and what my role was and to get the information to me on time to meet the deadlines to get the press releases out. This was partly because my position was new and partly because a lot of us from the three different municipalities didn’t know each other. After a couple of days, the system did start to work.

What would you do differently in the future in terms of your specialization?
I would have more people working with me from the beginning. I would make it very clear to everybody who was involved that they needed to get the information to me by certain deadlines, etc. If we had more people, the inquiries from the media could be dealt with better.

What about an emergency plan for the future?
An emergency response plan is in the works and communications is a part of that. I have a copy of the plan and am in the process of looking at it.

Did you have any contact with the federal or provincial levels of government?
No. I didn’t.

What about the stress factor?
There was stress because there was so much work to do, deadlines, constant questions, etc. I also had no heat at home so that added stress. As time went on I got more tired and the stress level increased.

What about amusing anecdotes?
Where I live, there are a lot of students. When I would go home at night it was totally deserted. A lot of students left town. There was nobody left in my building. I felt I was the only person alive on my whole street so I went to stay with a friend. Some neighbours who had a fireplace and stove invited us for soup parties which was very nice.