IceStorm 98 Study

In addition to being the Deputy Reeve of Front of Escott Township, Gerard Asbreuk is a dairy farmer with 225 head of cattle on his family's farm. He also assists his neighbour who runs a farm operation with 300 hogs.

The business of the Township for the first two days was secondary in priority to my own dairy operation. A dairy operation is entirely reliant on the electrical process to supply feed and milk the cattle. With this frame of mind I got my farm equipment out and got myself "rolling" and opened up the municipal roads. To assist the Roads Department for the first three days after the storm, I maintained between 3 and 4 miles of road with my backhoe, using it to clear the roads of any downed trees and limbs. This enabled the Roads crew to focus their priority on the south end of the Township. I also had to do this to keep myself going between the three farms which I supply generated power to.

The power at Asbreuk's farm went out at around 11:00 p.m. Wednesday the 8th? 9th? of January. Using a farm generator which was tractor driven, by 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning Gerard, his father, and brother had their power established and rolling "full tilt". They were able to get their morning chores done and then had to get a road opened up in order to get a milk truck into the farm. As soon as this had been done, the Asbreuks got the road opened up further so they could reach their second facility. They got the power going and cleaned and fed the animals. In the afternoon the Asbreuks supplied power to a neighbour who has a large hog operation.

Knowing how bad the situation was for the three operations he was responsible for and knowing that if it was as bad anywhere else, Asbreuk knew it would be totally impassable. By the second day with the rain and limbs that just kept coming and kept coming, he knew that this would be a long drawn out affair.

In his capacity as Deputy Reeve, he had an agreement with the Roads Department that he would be responsible for looking after everything north of County Road 4 in Escott Township. He was to keep the roads open and make sure that there was the ability for emergency traffic to move through there. It wasn't until late Friday afternoon that those in charge of the Township started to put things together with the Emergency Plan, realizing that it wasn't going to come back together within two or three days. It would be a lot longer than that. Asbreuk's phone system stayed up the whole time. He had phone service throughout the area.

After 24 hours had passed since the ice storm hit, Asbreuk, the Township Clerk and the Roads Department began to prioritize things. Escott Township and the adjoining municipality (Front of Yonge) is on a mutual aid basis for sharing fire services. The volunteer firemen were setting up a shelter in Front of Yonge Township and for the first two days Escott Township received guidance and direction on how they were handling things. They had a legion hall at their disposal. "They had an emergency plan pretty well down pat and had experience to draw from". All of these arrangements were being done by telephone. Asbreuk never left his farm until Saturday afternoon.

I was working from anywhere from 4:30 or 5 o'clock in the morning until midnight for the next 8 days. My hours were limited because I'm self employed and having to look after my farming operation plus being Deputy Reeve. Once communications were set up with Front of Yonge and Front of Yonge fire department, a meeting was held at their legion on the Saturday or Sunday afternoon. The hall was divided in two with half the area being for Front of Escott and the other half for the Front of Yonge. Then we got the military involved and divided their personnel between the two Townships. A door to door canvas was started with the aid of the military under the umbrella of the volunteer fire department.

The volunteer fire department had set up a grid system and one military vehicle with two personnel and one or two volunteers from the municipality to ride in each vehicle. The volunteers more or less knew the area and the people involved that were priority and should be checked on. Every door was checked for heat and basic health problems to make sure that everybody was coherent and knowledgeable of the situation at hand. This was all to be done before dark.

In addition to working with the Reeve, the Clerk, and the Roads Department, we had the assistance of a body of volunteers who had already been checking on elderly people in the community. They eventually came forth and were brought together at the legion hall--14 in the first day all ready to help co-ordinate the military movement in the Township.

At this point in time, other than the fire department, there were no other resources from outside of the community. Through the fire department the generators were starting to come in. There were volunteers that were supplying fire wood already. This was done by people calling the Township Clerk through a telephone line that was connected to the legion hall. In a large capacity, Front of Escott is a very rural community yet there was a large degree of "neighbour help neighbour for water and looking in on one another". The Township personnel and volunteers went twice into the Community and went door to door but after that what worked the best to a large degree was neighbour looking in on neighbour, sometimes twice a day on some families. This enabled the municipality to stop dispatching people to go door to door day in and day out.

What didn't work well was that the municipal office didn't have the capacity to stay in touch with the volunteers, the road crew, etc. There weren't enough cellular phones. Sometimes residents phone lines were down, although the main trunk lines were all active. On a residential level the communication was spotty.

A better communications system needs to be on hand, whether it's a two way radio system, or to have direct availability to at least 10 cell phones. Communications was the Township's biggest shortcoming. There were numerous times that I wanted to get hold of the Road Department. The Roads crew has beepers and this would mean that they would have to find a resident nearby with an active phone in order to be able to return my call.

There has been a lot of discussion regarding what needs to change as a result of the storm. With limited funds and with amalgamation hanging over our heads little has been done as far as change except hold some meetings and say these are some areas where we would like to see some changes made and we should make some expenditures but why make expenditures when our Township is going to be null and void within a year or two. It's a no win situation.

If Escott Township had another emergency situation tomorrow, I am certain that we would have to face a lot of questions from various groups as to why nothing has been done to improve a communications system. This is the area I feel needs to be looked at "first and foremost". The question is "do you make an expenditure of $3,000 to $5,000 or maybe less or maybe more to set up a communications system that will work for an emergency system when there is no emergency at hand and may never have to be faced again?" Everybody is very reluctant to make an expenditure of this amount for a future time.

Front of Escott did have an emergency plan in place but it was very limited in its usefulness as far as the ice storm was concerned. The plan was in place in the event of a rail disaster, a major catastrophe on the 401, a chemical leak or an airplane crash with a multiple of injuries. For any of these incidents the residents were to go to the local centre which was the auditorium at the public school. In the case of the ice storm, the auditorium was shut down because it's based entirely on electric heat. These are the sorts of things that make an emergency plan very limited. In this case there wasn't any need for a large scale evacuation of any degree. Our municipality has over 45 miles of road that one area wasn't any better or any worse than the next area. This left our emergency plan very limited as to the effectiveness of it. Who gets the six generators that are available?

A generator was not available at the municipal office for at least 3 to 4 days. Staff were working out at the legion hall in Mallorytown. When one became available it was decided that it should be sent to the Lions Club Hall in Rockport because it offered a larger hall, a larger area. A food area and an area of rest were set up for people that needed it. The legion also had twin oil furnaces to provide heat. This worked out 100% better than what the municipal office could have provided.

Asbreuk has no emergency training himself. He doesn't believe that anyone else in the Front of Escott organization has any formal emergency training either. Escott's emergency system is based through the volunteer fire department which when it comes down to a localized emergency, they would come in and more or less co-ordinate the area and effort. In this case it wasn't localized, it was widespread and where is the localized priority? There is none unless you have a senior citizen's complex where they are entirely on electric heat and you have to get the people out.

Asbreuk does not recall the Provincial or Federal Emergency Measures people being involved for the first 4 or 5 days at all.

Asbreuk did not have any contact with the media personally. The Reeve was in contact with the local radio station in Brockville. They were a very influential factor in keeping contact with the outside people. They provided an almost 24 hour vigil on the radio as to the availability of things. They were probably the most important communications link in the municipality.

Asbreuk said that stress was not a factor for him. He said that for him it was just the fact that he was worn out from the day in and day out of endless hours. He does believe that stress played a part for a lot of other people such as those who weren't used to being at home and then were stuck at home without power. Others affected were younger families with children that were generally at school who had no where to go and nothing to do. This was a very nerve wracking situation.

The longer the situation went on, the better people were able to handle it. A lot of people I talked to said that once they got past the first 3 or 4 days and got into a routine and did what they needed to do on a daily basis, then things started to work out better. The younger people as well as the married people got a better handle on how to handle the situation and how they could live with it.

In terms of his own farm operation, Asbreuks had a 35,000 kilowatt generator to use. The only livestock lost as a result of the storm was one cow and one heifer. The animals needed a veterinarian's attention and the Asbreuks felt that it wasn't fair to call a vet out in the icy conditions.

Asbreuk thinks that the storm was a great experience. It taught the children and a lot of other people in the area that life gets a little "too easy, a little too complacent". "It was Mother Nature's way of showing that this is reality. All of a sudden everybody on my farm had to pitch in and work 12 to 14 to 16 hours a day. The storm seemed to bring communities together, especially towards the end of the first week. By days six and eight, the municipality had more volunteers than were needed."

The portion of the Township where Asbreuk lives was without power for a total of 8 days. The southern end of the Township was out for 11 or 12 days.

Although our farm went through 3 generators during the storm, our farm was never without power for more than 4 or 5 hours. Me and my family (children) actually live off the farm and didn't have a generator for the full 8 days. The farmhouse where my Dad and Mom live had power provided by the generator.

Asbreuk said that he was the first one through the roads in his area. He took his backhoe out the second morning and went up the road about 5 miles. Trees covered in ice were bent over the road and all he had to do was bump them with the backhoe to see the ice spring off of them and see the trees right themselves to allow you to pass under them. He and his daughter have a lot of pictures. "Things like this you may never see again. Just to be able to relate that and experience it with my children is worthwhile". For at least the first week after the power came back on, Asbreuk noticed his children were finding out that maybe they didn't have to use as much electricity or the electricity didn't have to be there quite as conveniently as it was in the past.

The costs incurred by Escott Township during the ice storm keep escalating every week. The more we do, the more we see them. Residents want this done and that done concerning damage to their property. Asbreuk foresees the costs as continuing to escalate and keep escalating. Official figures have been submitted until the end of February.

The thing that stands out most in Asbreuk's mind about the storm is how neighbour helped neighbour and all of the volunteers that came forward. It was not provincial or federal or county assistance that was in the forefront. The storm certainly brought a lot of communities and organizations back together. Now the federal and provincial governments are being looked to for financial aid. This aid will be very welcome but "at the time of the ice storm it wasn't the dollar that made the difference, it was neighbours and volunteers. These are the people that got everyone through it".