IceStorm 98 Study

Jan Hasselaar says that he recalls that he began to realize the scale and extent of the storm on the afternoon of the 9th. Even then, he says, it was hard to appreciate the extent of the damage -- so the first day was taken up with assessing the damage -- "hydro pole after hydro pole snapping in front of you and falling down" -- Jan Hasselaar says that it took a little while to assess the damage but the emergency was declared late in the afternoon of the 9th.

Jan Hasselaar says that his first call was to the EMO to declare the emergency -- then from there he started trying to get organized -- "not having any organization to start with other than your emergency people like the fire department and ambulance" -- it was tough getting started but once things got organized everything fell into place quickly. All the emergency people were on line right away -- things come together quickly on a place like Wolfe Island. A headquarters was established in the new building that houses the fire department and ambulance. Jan Hasselaar chose that building over the school -- and soon thereafter volunteers started showing up to ask what they could do. There was no power and no phones and Jan Hasselaar began the search for a generator (by phone). He tracked down a generator in Sydenham and had it brought to the island and used it to run the command centre.

Jan Hasselaar says he stayed on the command centre most of the time, that he was in charge and took control, and everything went through him -- then the next day they started looking for ways to stock the emergency centre with food and water and provisions. A radio transmission tower came down on the island, but the guide wires prevented it from coming down on top of something and no one was hurt -- indeed no one was hurt throughout the entire two weeks that the power was out.

Jan Hasselaar says he never thought about his authority and no one challenged him about it. Jan Hasselaar says that when Hydro came on site, and assessed their situation which was frustrating for some people who thought things should be done quickly, new hydro poles started to arrive on the island and that's when it began to sink into the residents that it was more than simply hooking up wires. There were more than 200 poles replaced on the island -- two miles worth in some cases.

Jan Hasselaar says they had a lot of help from the ministries, particularly the OPP who brought in special constables from all over the province (Burlington) and Joe Farish from Kingston. Jan Hasselaar says they sometimes used the police cruisers for communication, that all the phones were out at some times. As the days dragged on Jan Hasselaar says that people were more concerned about the loss of communication than the loss of power -- that without their phones they felt isolated. One of JH's sons was among the last to get hooked up and they found it frustrating to have to drive everywhere to find out what was going on. Jan Hasselaar says that although there were things they would have done differently it all came together "tremendously."

Even had the island had a plan they could have not have developed a better response.

Money was "really no concern at the time because you don't really think about it." All Jan Hasselaar thought about was "are people all right and how are we going to get to them." The assistance of the volunteers and the ambulance people was terrific. At one point there was 148 generators going on the island, and there was a crew of volunteers just servicing generators and there was a small shop set up with two guys just doing small-engine repair -- all volunteer. There were two or three ladies who did nothing but take phone calls and answer questions. They had regular meetings at 9:00am every day which included the OPP, the clerk and all the township officials and the volunteer who took care of food. Everyone was canvassed for their needs and their idea of the strategic direction -- then they charted their progress on a couple of maps of the island which were posted on the walls of the command centre. Every day the progress of Hydro was plotted in red and yellow. Jan Hasselaar says that system worked really well.

Every night there was another meeting at 5:00pm to assess progress and discuss where things had gone wrong, and these meetings gave everyone a sense of what was happening and what progress was being made. The meetings did not start on a regular basis until Monday after the storm. There were short episodic meetings beforehand, but the formal organization got under way on Monday.

Jan Hasselaar says that priorities "were established by the people doing the work." Jan Hasselaar did not try to tell Hydro where to go and when because they had to work to their own requirements.

Jan Hasselaar says that one or two girls coordinated the activities of the volunteers, organization of food coming in from all directions (including Kraft) and people from Brampton who sent water bottles -- Jan Hasselaar says he has no idea how much food came from various places. Jan Hasselaar says that he learned of the MNR's special rescue units and they were quickly dispatched from Sault St. Marie (8 of them) and they brought chainsaws and 15-20 generators and they were delegated half and half to Wolfe and Howe Islands and they stayed until they thought their work was finished. They advised Jan Hasselaar of another group of volunteers from the same area who do search and rescue (mostly retired) who charged only for transportation and food supplies (another 8 of them) who came with a bus and cooking facilities which can travel to the work site. Jan Hasselaar says these people fed the Bell and Hydro crews.

Jan Hasselaar says this was the first emergency of this kind that he had contended with, that he had faced smaller events of one or two days duration.

Jan Hasselaar says that the island did not really have an emergency plan because they're too small, because no one thinks that anything ever happens -- but that has changed. Jan Hasselaar now thinks that the island should have a plan and that it should be updated regularly. Jan Hasselaar says that people in small communities "come together very quickly and deal with it."

Jan Hasselaar says he never saw any friction between volunteers, grandstanding or conflict -- "you don't see that in that kind of emergency."

Jan Hasselaar says that the thing that worked the best was the hard work of the fire department given that all the hydro lines were down -- there was a lot of work to be done getting wires out of the ground. The volunteer fire department (4-8 guys) went along the roads picking the wires out of the snow banks so that the hydro guys would not have to do that. Secondly, the roads people started assembling the cross-poles for the hydro poles (installing insulators) and dropping off specific supplies for where the poles were to be replaced. Jan Hasselaar says that hydro estimates that this help saved them a lot of time and energy.

Jan Hasselaar says that he can't think of anything that did not work well -- he says that off the top there was a lack of communication with Hydro (in Markham): "in an emergency you don't want to get voice mail." There was a slow start. Jan Hasselaar says that people want answers and it's important for hydro to know that and that it's important to be able to talk with "people".

Jan Hasselaar says there was no "biggest problem" that they could not deal with. They had everything they needed. The ambulance never even left the island during the two weeks of the emergency. Jan Hasselaar has praise for Sally Kane and her ambulance people. The ambulance people did the house to house checks within the first couple of days, and in the interim there was a lot of neighbor helping neighbor -- Jan Hasselaar makes the contrast with any apartment building in a city.

Jan Hasselaar says that the first thing that will change post-ice storm is the installation of a permanent hook up for a generator to run the emergency building so that all they will have to do is pull a switch for immediate power and heat -- it took a day to get that organized. They now have an emergency committee and they will be working toward a plan that will comprehend such an event in the future. Jan Hasselaar says they are starting to develop an emergency plan.

Jan Hasselaar has praise for the army -- but it took a while for them to show up, and then they started doing house to house calls. The OPP were there on a 24 basis for the first few days.

Jan Hasselaar says that he would know precisely where the emergency shelter was going to be set up and that everyone would know where it was -- and to establish non-telephonic communication so that people would know where to come to get food and fresh water.

Jan Hasselaar says that he had -- after three or four days -- regular contact with CKLC who would phone all the mayors in the area for updates on their situation. Jan Hasselaar says he would have press reports ready for them.

Jan Hasselaar says that his first contact with the emergency measures officials was on the 9th. Jan Hasselaar says he was number 21 to declare by the end of Friday -- and that some declared earlier up around the Hawkesbury area. Most in this area declared around the same time.

Jan Hasselaar does not have any emergency training -- though the fire and ambulance people do. Jan Hasselaar says it was lucky that so many volunteers turned out and that some of them were retired from the Kingston Fire Department. Jan Hasselaar says that even if they had had a plan it would have needed to be very simple -- because most of the response will come from people in the area.

Jan Hasselaar says that stress was evident in some people -- yet others took everything in stride. He saw little of it, most of it was manifested in frustration and the feeling that some people were getting special treatment.

Jan Hasselaar says that his family and farm were the last to get hooked up. Jan Hasselaar says that his wife has had some health problems and was shipped out on the Saturday after declaration of the emergency.

Jan Hasselaar says that it was remarkable how people came together who had not spoken to each other in years.

Jan Hasselaar says that on Tuesday when Ernie Eves, John Snobolen, and Bob Runciman came to the island and got a tour it was nice to see three cabinet ministers in the morning and the Prime Minister in the afternoon. Jan Hasselaar says it gave everyone a lift. Jan Hasselaar says they did not make a lot of records of the meetings, so he does not have a lot to pass on to the ice storm study.