IceStorm 98 Study

Gary Clark realized the morning of the 8th of January, when things started crashing down and falling over, that things were serious. Over breakfast, about 6:30, Gary Clark concluded that it was "very serious." The real seriousness dawned on him when he went to work and realized that some streets were impassable and entire trees were down across roads. For the next 24 hours Gary Clark says that things got worse until the temperature warmed up and the ice started coming off the branches. "The first 48 hours was ... very obvious that it was a very serious situation." Gary Clark says he did not realize how widespread or serious the emergency was. It became more apparent as time went on, but at home he still had TV for a couple of days and watched news, though he did not get much time at home. He knew the situation in Quebec was serious, but did not appreciate the gravity of the situation in Ontario.

The first couple of days consisted of organizing crews and setting up extra help. Gary Clark knew early that it was beyond the scope of what he could handle with his 7-man crew, so he first contacted other town organizations to request assistance (recreation centre) to second people from them. The other departments cooperated and Gary Clark began to clear debris from the streets. It became obvious to Gary Clark that he was going to need even more people. So he called Pittsburgh Institution to request inmates -- and they provided people the next day. Normally Gary Clark says it would take several days to get approval, but they rushed their processing for the emergency -- and Gary Clark had their assistance for the next four weeks. So he had the PUC staff, the recreation staff and volunteers. Gary Clark received a call from Bell Canada -- that they were bringing in people from holidays and off retirement -- and they offered 10 people for two weeks at no cost to the town of Gananoque. Gary Clark also got an offer from Centra Gas, but at that point he had all the people he could use. The Bell people brought chain saws -- in addition to the chain saws that Gary Clark was able to get. Gary Clark says that he also had offenders doing community service work -- "quite a large number actually."

Gary Clark thought about his authority all the time, "not wanting to overstep my authority" but thinking that the scope of the event required drastic measures. Gary Clark says it was in his mind most of the time that he ought not go above and beyond what he would really have the authority to do -- plus he was also meeting regularly with the Emergency Response Group which reminded him that he was acting as part of a team. Gary Clark says that the group handled the emergency "extremely well" given that no one had ever had experience with such an event before. No one ever challenged Gary Clark's authority in the course of the ice storm. But he did think about the safety of people who were working under him and what might happen if someone got hurt.

Money was not a concern at the start, although it was there -- it was not really a concern. "Whether the town had the money to deal with it -- in the first 48-72 hours -- the streets had to be cleared." Days later it began to be a concern. Gary Clark recalls thinking "How in the hell are we ever going to deal with this? -- with the money and resources that we had ... but as time when on it became apparent that the province would kick in money .... " But Gary Clark recalls, after the first couple of days when things began to come under control, trying to cut back on overtime to save money. The first couple of days, however, the idea was to get as much done as possible -- "everyone was working really long shifts, myself included

Gary Clark says that major decisions were made by the Emergency Response Committee -- decisions involving large expenses were discussed at the committee level. Regular day-to-day decisions were made by Gary Clark as much as possible but within the context of his bounds, as much as possible, he would not go out and spend a lot of money without permission if he could do the job with his own resources. Gary Clark trusted his own instincts. Gary Clark attended the regular meetings -- as many as he could -- but he was also trying to do as much work as he could (operations). He ran a chainsaw and worked with his crew cutting trees and branches. Gary Clark says that communication was spotty, but they were fortunate because the two-way -radio system continued to work, at least between the trucks. Radio communication is routed through the 911 system at the Police Station and there were short periods when that was lost -- but they could still communicate among themselves. There was no time when the radio system did not work at all.

Gary Clark tried to maintain regular contact with his crews, meeting with them at 7:00 am at the start of the shift, to discuss and plan and delegate jobs. Gary Clark tried to maintain as much of his normal routine as he could.

Gary Clark worked primarily with the committee -- though briefly because he felt he was needed on the streets doing the actual work -- but he also maintained contact with the Chief of Police and the rest of the team. Every meeting established a follow-up meeting and following each meeting Gary Clark would return to the street and work with his crews and volunteers.

Internal resources were mobilized -- once the shock wore off -- as Gary Clark and his crew did an inventory of what they had and what they were going to need. Gary Clark made contact with the local rental place and established a relationship with them so that Gary Clark would get top priority. He needed chainsaws and he needed them serviced and repaired. They maintained that relationship throughout. Gary Clark continued to call around and get resources. Gary Clark had so many volunteers offering help that he did not have to call in anyone (at the start) that was going to cost anything.

What worked well, from Gary Clark's standpoint, was the way other departments helped out; no one had to be told or asked. The Recreation Centre staff in particular worked extremely well. The volunteers and residents worked well.

Gary Clark says that communication could have worked better. The town departments could stand to get a better idea of what their roles are in such a situation. There were a few minor communication problems and some duplication. Nothing major. The lack of all the equipment that Gary Clark needed, even though Gary Clark knows that it's impossible to have everything needed for such an event. Gary Clark says he got all the cooperation he needed from his superiors although there was a difference of opinion concerning what he should be doing. Gary Clark thinks that some of them thought he should have been spending more time in meetings rather than on the street with his men doing the actually work of recovery -- but he thinks he did fulfill his obligation to the emergency core group. Normally, Gary Clark says, he does more administrative work -- but this was an emergency and he knew where he needed to work and where his experience was most valuable.

Gary Clark's biggest problem, during the emergency, was striking the balance between his work duties and his family situation -- his wife was in the hospital and his kids were at home. His kids are 18 & 14 and they can take care of themselves, but he felt like he should have spent more time with them. Their phone was out for three weeks so he had to go physically to his house to check on his kids. Gary Clark's wife suffers from depression and was in a Kingston hospital during the emergency -- there was also some stress around the fact that he and his kids could not get into Kingston to see her.

Gary Clark says that he too would get on the first plane out of the country in another storm -- a common sentiment -- but also says that the event was also in some ways "enjoyable" because there were a lot of reasons to feel hopeful for 'the race.' There was lots of bad stuff, like people stealing generators, but he also saw people running extension cords across the street so that people could share power if one side of the street had it and the other did not. There were lots of demonstrations of community solidarity; people letting others use their showers, feeding them and so forth. Gary Clark's wife stayed in Kingston township for two and half weeks when the power went out in downtown Kingston -- and they would not take any money for it. "It was pretty damn decent of them to do that -- they wouldn't take a dime -- we just bought them a little present."

Gary Clark says there were some good parts to the ice storm even though he would not want to go through it again. Gary Clark cites examples of people who had no power themselves going out to help others, neighbors and so forth.

Gary Clark has stocked flashlights and candles, the Works Department has a good generator and Gary Clark is going to ensure that it is checked regularly. He intends to put a wood stove into his house and stock up on wood before next winter -- and change his furnace over so that it can run off a generator.

Gary Clark says his power was only off for a few days, but the house is older and it did get quite cold. A branch damaged the mast and when the power came back on another large limb tore the stack and meter right off the house. Gary Clark was told that he had to get an electrician to hook up his house, but he got lucky and when the power came back on so did the furnace.

Gary Clark recalls hearing that Granite Power was going to have the power back on within 24 hours, and now thinks that was too optimistic.

Gary Clark has no emergency training, other than his own safety training. He has consulted the emergency plan, but that was 10 years ago when a gas line was ruptured. There was a meeting of the emergency core group, but it did involve everyone going over the plan. Gary Clark agrees that emergency plans do not contemplate a region-wide event. There was a massive windstorm a couple of years ago that brought down a lot of trees, but it was nowhere near the scope of the Ice Storm. What was problematic about the ice storm was its prolongation. Gary Clark found it very exhausting, and still does. Gary Clark says that the ice storm "ain't over for us" and they will be cleaning up from it for a long time.

Gary Clark had no contact with provincial or federal emergency measures people. He has praise for Bell Canada -- "they were just wonderful" and deserve some recognition. Gary Clark made a call to the local paper and Gary Clark followed up with a letter to the Editor.

Gary Clark recalls that a certain bed and breakfast put up the Bell workers at no cost and even fed them -- an elderly couple a few miles west of Gananoque -- another example of the community coming together.

Gary Clark kept his overtime costs to a minimum, once the first part of the emergency passed. It's going to be a long time, however, before Gary Clark has any final figures on the cost of the Ice Storm recovery.

Gary Clark says that Town Hall has account numbers in place for the Ice Storm recovery so that it is easier to track the costs of the recovery -- which is still the largest cost of their work at this time. Gary Clark says he was lucky to get the services of an arbourist from Ottawa. He came and shared his experiences and forecasted some things to watch for -- predicting fallout as far as five years in the future. Gary Clark says that Gananoque should expect some more branches falling as the leaves come out because of the internal damage to the limbs that can't be seen from the outside.