IceStorm 98 Study

Captain R. Scott is the area commander for the Salvation Army in Brockville. His jurisdiction extends over a wide area. He is especially proud of the new wing added to the large facility on first avenue. Coincidentally, a new kitchen was completed just days before the storm hit.

On the morning of January 8th, RS was called to an emergency meeting held at the City Yard on North Augusta Road. As part of the Emergency Task Force, his attendance was mandatory.

His first responsibility was to employ his church vehicle to pick up people in homes and apartments and take them to the Brockville Psychiatric Hospital and Grenville Christian College which were being used as shelters.

His next task was to pick up mattresses and clothing from the Salvation Army Thrift Store and take them to the College.

The next day, the city provided a generator for use at the Salvation Army building on First Avenue which allowed it to be used as a shelter. Over the next few days the building housed over 150 seniors as well as some of the volunteers who elected to stay. A police constable was stationed at the shelter from time to time.
A total of 400 plus meals a day were provided to those who chose to stay at home in addition to the meals served to the residents.

The S.A. Centre also provided accommodation for the St. John’s Ambulance who were arriving in the City.

When the City emergency was over, efforts shifted to assisting the counties in co-ordination with Mark Darroch. “He and Steve Lyons... were very sensitive to all the agencies and I have to really say that of all the people that I have worked with, the two people that stick out in my mind are Mark Darroch and (Steve Lyons).

RS and Mark Darroch went out and visited all of the shelters in the counties to assess their needs and requirements. RS was particularly concerned about accommodation, food and clothing needs.

The S. A. was provided food by the City and the County during the emergency. During the City emergency food was obtained from T.I.S.S. who got it from a local grocery stores. When efforts switched to the Counties, food was purchased from the local Save-A-Center food store. “We actually altogether provided 14,976 meals in 15 days”. This also included meals provided to the North Augusta shelter since they didn’t have the proper equipment. RS obtained a mobile canteen unit from Toronto. The meals were prepared at Brockville and shipped to North Augusta by the mobile canteen.

Over 150 volunteers assisted the staff at the S.A. facility. On May 3rd RS is celebrating a “Volunteer Sunday” which will be attended by the Mayor who will present certificates, to express his appreciation for the efforts of the volunteers.

This was the first real emergency that the S.A. had experienced here and the co-ordination of volunteers went quite smoothly, “this is what we are good at”.

As the emergency drew to a close, food and equipment started coming back to the S.A. This all had to be sorted out.
As the power came back on, people started to return to the building to pick up food hampers since their own food had spoiled during the storm. The S.A. was still providing hampers to this day (April 18).

“It was quite an experience, it was tiring and exhausting, but it was also enjoyable in a way because you got to meet a lot of people.”

In terms of costs, RS stated that the Salvation Army does not charge any costs either to the City or the County, but his own costs amounted to around $ 10,000.00 with wages and other expenses.
Most of this money will be recovered through donations - as a matter of fact RS was about to pick up a cheque for $ 1,000.00 the next day. The remaining costs were to be included in their normal budgeting “ that’s what we’re here for... that’s what we do as a Church... we’re here as a Church for the community ... we’re not going to be here unless there’s a need for us in the community”.

It was a very stressful situation both for RS and his group of volunteers. Staff were going 24 hours a day and sleeping at the centre with their families. RS slept in his office with his family.
Other factors contributed to the overall stress “ between the City and the County we weren’t sure, we were in a sort of limbo -do we pack up now, or do we keep it going... until we sort of got changed over”.

“It ran extremely smoothly - I was amazed at how smoothly it ran”.
The St. John’s Ambulance, who were billeted at the centre also provided overnight security as well as nursing assistance for some of the seniors. The St. John’s nurses were there to assist some retired nurses who had volunteered.
Although the shelter was mostly occupied by seniors, there was a family with a baby who came from T.I.S.S. because of the noise and activity and were placed in a room where they could have some privacy.

A slight problem arose, which surprised RS, when some seniors overindulged themselves. Since they were used to eating small portions of food at home, they were not able to handle the larger sized meals served at the centre. As a result, a few of them got sick from overeating.

The shelter had been operating for three days. Once the city had obtained a generator for the building, busloads of seniors were brought to the shelter. On the following Tuesday (Jan 13) people began to move back into their homes and apartments.

On the humorous side, since this was a non-smoking building, people had been requested to make special arrangements with staff if they needed to smoke. The constable on duty told everyone that he would shoot the first person he saw smoking “ and I’m good - I can shoot you right through the eye” .Sure enough, an 80 year old woman was caught smoking in the ladies washroom.