IceStorm 98 Study

Wednesday
On Wednesday January 7, 1998, the weather reports warned of freezing rain. The managers and staff of the Canadian Tire store at the Kingston Centre made the regular preparations for what we thought would be just another day of high demand for road salt, sand, snow shovels, ice choppers and ice melt.

Thursday
Through Wednesday night the weather worsened, and by Thursday morning, January 8,1998, the flow of customers into the store began to slow as travel became increasingly difficult. The weather reports contained warnings of more freezing rain. Many offices and schools around us were closed. The flow of customers seeking supplies to get through the bad road conditions and power outages kept everyone busy. Customers were purchasing sand, salt, windshield washer anti- freeze, batteries, lanterns, propane, camping gas, and candles. Most people were only shopping for emergency supplies, not for regular items so staff were reassigned from their normal areas to deal with the unusual demand.
Some of the staff live north of Kingston, and some as far as Gananoque, so I offered the staff who wanted to leave, the opportunity to go home early. Most chose to remain.
At 1:30 p.m. the number of customers looking for flashlights and batteries, heaters and camping stoves increased. People told us power had gone out on some streets in the City.
At 1:45 p.m. the power in the store failed. It was restored 5 minutes later and then after a few interruptions, it failed again at approximately 2:00 p.m. but was not restored immediately as it had been the previous time.

Following the evacuation procedure we had set for fire emergencies, staff directed customers to the front of the store and checked the isles and washrooms for stragglers. This had to be completed before the emergency lighting batteries ran down, a period of about 25 minutes. Using flashlights for light and calculators to total bills, we overcame the problem of cash registers that shut down without electricity. Several customers left without their purchases after I made the announcement that without power we would not be able to ring their purchases through quickly. A surprising number of customers thanked our staff for keeping the store open even though we had no power and patiently waited to complete their purchases.
Without power, our PBX telephone system would not work. I found myself with the only working phone because my I have a private outside line which is not routed through our PBX system. We used it to call PUC. My cell phone was not working due to the damage to the local antenna towers. I was fortunate to get through to PUC right away. PUC transferred me to their dispatch department. I was told to wait 45 minutes before I sent my staff home. PUC management were hopeful that they could get our power back on. After an hour, I was able to get through to the PUC dispatch department again and overheard as their supervisor in the field radioed in to tell PUC dispatch that our lines were down and a transformer had failed. The supervisor advised his dispatcher to tell us that disconnecting downed live wires which posed a serious risk to people would get first priority before his men could work on restoring power to Canadian Tire.

At 4:30 p.m. I held a meeting with the staff gathered at the front of the store. I informed them that there was no point in waiting as we would not get power back and the store would not reopen that day. We agreed that they would phone the store (on the only working phone, my private line) or if they got no answer, call our managers' answering service and leave a number at which they could be reached, as we anticipated a lot of people would be staying with friends or family that night. We agreed that staff would call in at least two hours before 8:00 am. Regular store opening in order to determine if the store was open on Friday. As it would make no sense for anyone to risk driving in bad weather, I asked for volunteers to work extra hours from among those who lived within walking distance of the store to cover for those who might not make it in. In spite of the poor weather conditions expected for Friday, almost everyone present at the store closing on Thursday indicated they could be counted on to get to be at work. Only one person who lived in Verona, indicated he might not be able to drive in to work on Friday.

Friday
On Friday January 9, 1998, I arrived at the store to find the parking lot still coated in a sheet of ice. With salting, we were able to make the lot passable. I found that by store opening, time, my entire staff was in. Not one person had called in saying they could not make it to work despite the fact that many did not have power at home and that schools were closed causing problems with child care. To help out, we found volunteers and opened a day care in the staff cafeteria. Mothers were then able to bring their children to a warm place where they could be looked after while their parents worked. Many staff members brought their children who were out of school to the store. The kids were a great assistance, helping to bring stock to the retail floor, calling the local radio station to put out advisories that we were open and had emergency supplies in stock. Over the entire ice storm period, no staff member missed a day of work. Even the part time students pitched in working extra hours as needed. Customers appreciated the dedication and expressed it to our cashiers.

By mid morning, customers coming in reported that many parts of the city were without power. By early afternoon we were out of camping fuel, kerosene, candles, flashlights, propane, and anything that would produce light or heat. We realized that we had a problem. As the rains continued to fall and freeze, I met with my managers and we organized a phone campaign to Toronto stores. We called and followed up with faxes to 10 stores. (Copy attached).
Fortunately for us, Canadian Tire has a parts depot system. Automotive parts not stocked by the stores, are delivered to each store twice daily. The morning truck comes from Ottawa and the afternoon one comes from Toronto. I called the Depot manager in Toronto and he agreed to put a large cube van, rather than the usual Mini Van, on the Kingston run so that he could have his staff deliver the product which we had been assured by the Toronto stores would be delivered to the depot that night. Each of the store managers we called on Friday night made an independent decision to help and arranged for his staff to pull stock off their store shelves, and in many cases had convoys of employee cars deliver it to the Depot before the 9:00 p.m. deadline. No one refused to help, and no one failed us.

Saturday
By Saturday mid morning the depot truck arrived with candles, propane and other product we had requested from the Toronto stores. Merchandise was moved to the floor by the warehouse staff. It sold as it was pulled to the floor. As customers continued to arrive for product we had run out of, we placed a flip chart at the front of the store listing what we had on hand, what was arriving and expected arrival times.

In the meantime, having heard weather reports from Kingston, the parts Depot staff had decided that we needed more help and sent trucks as far out as London Ontario collecting supplies they thought we might need. Calls from the depot alerted us to what was coming. We refused nothing sent to us over the weekend and sold out of everything. Depot was able to get their staff to volunteer overtime work and over the weekend we received 6 truck loads of goods.
Over the weekend of January 10 and 11 Canadian Tire Depot trucks, driven by drivers who risked their lives over icy highways, kept the store stocked with enough product to satisfy most of our customers. As power was out all around our store, we were the only store in Kingston that had product which people needed. Canadian Tire stores as far away as Cornwall and Quebec were closed due to power failures and danger of collapsing roofs from the weight of the ice.

Sunday
By Sunday, my staff was starting to feel the effects of the storm, the stress of work and the stress of going home with no heat or light. Even the free coffee, hot chocolate and snacks provided at no cost by Shelagh's Donuts next door were not enough to stem the fatigue some of the staff was beginning to show.
Many of our customers are seniors and we did not want them to have to come out unnecessarily. I personally stashed a supply of candles and fuel oil for those seniors who came in. Many were obviously people who had experienced great difficulty in getting about in icy conditions. My staff and I couldn't bear the thought of turning those people away empty handed. When we were out of Coleman fuel, candles or flashlights, we always had a supply for any needy senior. Helping out the seniors was probably the most rewarding part of working through the ice storm.

Monday
On Monday, January 12 we were finally able to get through to the Canadian Tire warehouse. It was difficult to get product from the warehouse because with 425 Stores in the country, most not affected by the ice storm, Canadian Tire's distribution focus was on the regular needs of the stores and there was no capacity to switch focus to our ice bound area.

By Monday afternoon, the President of Canadian Tire corporation intervened to allocate extra resources to speed needed product to Kingston. Canadian Tire buyers called us with lists of their contacts at importers and manufacturers of batteries, candles, flashlights, and fuel. We were then free to bypass Head Office and order directly from the manufacturers for direct shipments. (Memo from Wayne Sales attached)

Tuesday
By Tuesday and Wednesday transports of kerosene, Coleman fuel, lamp oil, candles, matches, heaters, propane etc. were arriving on the hour. From a supply point of view, we were now in a position to meet the demand of our customers. Generators which had been shipped from Atlanta in the US. were cleared through customs on a priority bases. CSA and Ontario Hydro gave immediate approval for this American product so that it could be delivered to Canadian Tire Stores. Working from a list of customers who had left their names in case generators became available, we were able to provide over 100 to needy local farmers and rural residents. One woman who had heard a rumour that we were getting generators drove in from Montreal. When told that we had not received the shipment, she insisted that she was not driving back to her family empty handed. We told her that we hoped to get the generators the next day. The woman threatened to sleep in the store unless she got a generator. In fact, she stayed overnight at a local hotel and in the morning was the first one in the store when we opened. The truck with generators arrived an hour later and she was on her way with the prized generator.
As more and more of the city had power restored, the demand for emergency supplies tapered off. Sales of batteries continued strong for a month after power was restored to the city. The next run was on chain saws and chain saw oil. That shortage was never completely relieved until the summer of 1998.

The accounting for purchases of supplies was completed two weeks after power was restored to the city. Including the labour and transportation costs and the fact that prices were kept artificially low to avoid the perception of price gouging, the product sold was, at best, on a cost recovery basis.

The ice storm brought our staff together. No one complained. All worked long hours and extra shifts. We kept the store open extra hours on the weekend in order to let people pick up supplies which had arrived at the store late in the afternoon. No one complained about the extra hours. Our customers seemed genuinely grateful that we had kept the store open. Many were under the mistaken impression that other stores had closed because of the ice, and unavailability of staff. They did not realize that our store was one of the few in the city that had power throughout most of the storm. Canadian Tire depot and corporate staff were very helpful. Most acted first and asked for authorization later. The fact that the storm hit over the weekend made it even more difficult to obtain authorizations before action could be taken. Not one of the decisions made by corporate staff was questioned.
As a result of their actions in the emergency, Canadian Tire Corporation initiated an emergency response plan which will be implemented during the next emergency. The plan allows for a manual bypass of the computer systems in the warehouses and lists the numbers of contacts who can arrange direct shipments to the stores. A staffing structure has been set up to co-ordinate an emergency response. At our own store, the emergency response was analysed and we purchased generators which will allow us to keep the store open on a limited basis during a future power outage.

On Friday January 18, 1998 Canadian Tire Kingston Centre Store dealer, Jack Colden and I wrote a letter to the Kingston Whig Standard daily newspaper which was published on January 30, 1998 thanking everyone involved in the Ice Storm.

John Mirski

General Manager
Jack Colden Ltd. Canadian Tire Kingston Centre.