IceStorm 98 Study

Before we get to what happened when you eventually got to work, where were you when the lights went out on Wednesday night?

Even though it has been only a couple of months since the storm, you will have to forgive me for some of the fuzziness of my memory. During the storm, it was a blur in terms of whatever day or even time of day it was. It was difficult to keep track. I was probably like every one else — in bed asleep and I do recall that the first inkling of the storm was the 8:30 a.m. meeting on Thursday morning that was to be convened by the senior managers at Tercentennial Lodge on King Street West. And that was sort of the interim Administration Offices for the senior managers. When I got out in front of my house I couldn’t even move the car or get the door of it open. I talked to some neighbours and some of our employees who live in my neighbourhood near St. Lawrence College on Calderwood Drive. Some of them had been in touch with their supervisors who indicated they weren’t required to come to work because City Hall would be closed. I telephoned a couple of my fellow senior managers, still not realizing the extent of the damage. Because I live fairly close to Tercentennial Lodge I said I would walk to the Lodge because the police were warning people not to drive. As I walked I got a first-hand indication of the extent of the damage — falling limbs and downed hydro wires. When I got to King Street at Morton I could see that the police had cordoned off King Street. I realized that this was a severe ice storm. When I got to where the meeting was to be held, there was a note on the door “Cancelled due to the ice storm” with no further instructions. So I proceeded to go back home. I met Sheila Birrell, the Director of Council Support and Communication, driving in. I waved her down and hopped in her car. I told her that she couldn’t drive any further because the road was blocked off. She decided to take another route and I went home. I then tried to reach some senior managers and took a standby stance at that point until I got through to City Hall. They told me to be on standby in case I was needed. Before the close of business on Thursday I was called and asked to come in because they wanted around-the-clock presence at City Hall. So when I arrived at City Hall just after regular business hours, that was my first indoctrination into the Emergency Operation Centre. From there it is bit of a blur. There was an interim emergency plan. In my role as Director of Information Technology, I called in selected staff to make sure that we had our computer systems running at City Hall. That basically was my role, but I did attend the Emergency Operations control meetings as a member of the senior management team.

Were you at the Thursday night meeting that the Mayor held at the PUC building?

No I was not there. It was not clear who should attend that meeting, but it was clear that utilities general managers and public works managers should attend. Our General Manager of Fleet Operations played a key role, e.g. distributing cell phones and communications equipment and I worked with her in that general of area of communications.

In my opinion, it was utilities and fleets and sort of physical means that were given top priority. Communications and information technology were underestimated and it didn’t hit them until afterwards.

Definitely. I would agree that the utilities and hard service groups were given priority. It wasn’t until literally there was about five minutes during which the power in City Hall went down. About three or four hours prior to that, we called in the ham radio operators group as a standby in case the phones went out at City Hall and we would lose connections with the shelters. Thus primitive technology played an important role. I think the decision to use City Hall as the Emergency Operation Centre was a wise one but it did present problems as the days wore on. There has to be a recognition that an Emergency Operations group needs a place with some insulation from the day-to-day humdrum activities.

I just want to follow up on this issue of communications — the newer software and the older more-established hard services. How did these departments interact? Was the hierarchy more or less intact from the Mayor on down? Given the exceptional circumstances, was there rivalry of sort? Was the question of authority still clear or was it compromised?

I think it was very clear. The Mayor had a presence at all times when I was there. It was always clear that the Mayor was calling the shots. I started out working l6 hour stints, then getting a few hours sleep, then work 12 hours, then sleep for 4 or 5 hours and then down to 8 hours. I tried to pace myself. I did witness fellow colleagues who worked such long hours with little sleep, who did get ill. Because of the amalgamation, people were unsure of the lines of authority. However, it did mean that people could be spontaneous and flexible. It was clear that the Mayor and his senior advisor were in charge. The general manager for the utilities was front and centre in terms of the hydro electric grid and getting hydro up and running. The presence of Ontario Hydro in the meetings was non-existent until the later stages of the emergency when they were brought in. The City Police and the OPP worked together throughout the emergency. In my view, the social services groups rallied together and there were a small group of people who were in charge. Perhaps too few of the key people in that envelope were relied upon to a great extent to set up the shelters. The Salvation Army and the Red Cross did their job well and probably could have been involved and relieved a lot of the up front pressure on these new people. There was some tension around the handover of authority from the “bureaucratic” staff at City Hall to the not-for-profit bureaucrats in the Salvation Army and Red Cross. The assistance of the military was also very important in terms of getting beds and blankets, etc.

Yes. It has developed into a debate of sorts whether the command centre should have been here. I guess it had a symbolic value being at City Hall. Then there is a more functional question as well.

We relied heavily on volunteers, who looked to guidance from the professionals. Thus City Hall was natural for them and for us as a senior management team. From my point of view, it was easier for myself, as Director of Information Technology, to support a network that was already in place and that we were familiar with. The media should be given credit for their part in communicating information to the people. If there are things we would like the media to do differently, we are going to have to involve them in the post evaluation and in future disaster planning.

That’s interesting. Because Dave Morgan, who I interviewed out at City Hall West, gave the same assessment — it was very important that the City be in sync with the media.

I think it is important to have a protocol for people’s involvement. Some people were burning themselves out. Some staff at City Hall did not come to work at all. The message that went out was that they should stay at home unless they were called in.

Do you have any amusing anecdotes or isolated incidents that you recall during the drama?

There was an endless supply of coffee and donuts. A South African manufacturer makes windup radios and they were sold out at one radio store at Frontenac Mall. They are also looking at windup phones as well. I think this is the type of technology (primitive) that you have to have available to people.

I ended up on the night shift and 2 or 3 nights in a row, Councillor Hawkins and myself did our rounds at 2 or 3 in the morning to the shelters. It was important to get out into the field to see what was happening and I think the people in the shelters did appreciate the presence of the city people from the EOC. The Mayor and his senior advisor made similar visits at different locations. This was important for morale.

Do you think the City is much the wiser for the whole experience?

Yes. I think the City is better positioned to deal with another disaster. In a way it is good that it happened at the very infancy of the new City so that we can make sure that the new City starts off on a preparedness footing. It might be a good idea to have a disaster planner/coordinator or an emergency planning authority figure as part of the administration. The fact that this study is being done shows that we should come out of this disaster with a plan for how we respond and what we can do differently.