IceStorm 98 Study

Terry is a resident of Wolfe Island -- one of a large family of O'Sheas -- and has been clerk/administrator since 1988. Wolfe Island did not have an emergency plan.

Terry O'Shea talked with the mayor on 8 January for the first time and they agreed that there were a lot of problems but had no idea when the power would come on again. The power went out on the early morning of the 8th, and the rest of the power went down the next morning.

Terry O'Shea says the mayor was trying to learn of the extent of the problem and found that the power was going to be out for at least three days. Terry O'Shea told the mayor that he was available to do as the mayor ordered: set up command post and "run with it from there." Some phone lines stayed up -- then later all phones went down when the battery support died. When the batteries died all the phone system died with them. The command centre was located at the Fire Hall, but Terry O'Shea is unsure how long the phones were down there. The mayor had 2 cell phones.

In response to the declaration of emergency, the command post was set up with the road super, the head of ambulance, and the council. Priorities were established according to health and safety considerations. The street directory was consulted to ascertain who was where and -- in combination with local knowledge -- it was possible to determine who was where and what their needs might be (Thursday evening). House to house searches got under way Friday morning.

Terry O'Shea just "followed orders" from the mayor and council because the mayor has authority under the act.

Wolfe Island did not have an emergency plan.

Money was not a concern at the start -- the priority was health and welfare. Once the system got underway there were two regular meetings every day -- they started on Saturday.

Terry O'Shea did not man the command centre, he was between the command centre and the office where he took a lot of information from EMO off the fax machine once the phones came back up. There were different volunteers manning the phones at the fire hall organized by coordinator Marilyn Hawkins.

Terry O'Shea worked with the Reeve and councilors (those available) the supervisor head of the hydro crew, the OPP, fire and head of ambulance and road superintendent -- as well as the one person in charge of generators. There might have been as many as 200 generators on the island -- Terry O'Shea is unsure.

The meetings decided priorities on a daily basis.

There was no generator delegated to the command post and Terry O'Shea does not know where it came from.

MNR was one of the first agencies involved from the second day, they came from up north and really helped set up the emergency response. They had a lot of expertise and knew how to establish priorities and their crew helped get hydro crews into areas where the trucks could not travel.

Not having an emergency plan, Terry O'Shea thinks that everything worked as well as it could. The fire crew was able to move around. The ambulance crew checked on people. There were volunteers available to help where needed. And there was one crew delegated to checking and maintaining generators -- and servicing them regularly too. They were assigned to duties on the basis of their experience -- two or three small engine mechanics. Electricians volunteered their services and were delegated to the generators.

The farmers shared generators for the first couple of days until the second or third day when they all had got generators.

Darryl Niles coordinated the generators between the 18 or 19 dairy farmers. The farmers spontaneously took care of each other and themselves for the first couple of days. Terry O'Shea kept a list of who needed generators and got them to them.

A kitchen was set up at the fire hall and volunteers prepared food for the hydro and generator crews. That was organized -- after the first few days -- Marilyn Hawkins. She knew where people were needed.

Things were a little confusing at the start -- in the absence of an emergency plan -- but once things got moving everything worked "as well as could be expected."

Hydro was the major priority and the biggest problem in Terry O'Shea's view. They had to be able to get to where they needed to go. "We wanted people available to them so they wouldn't be slowed down." Terry O'Shea says that it was possible to speed up Hydro's work.

Wolfe Island has started to work on a plan -- which they did not have before, although Howe Island did ....

Terry O'Shea says it is not required (as far as he knows) that municipalities like his have emergency plans. Terry O'Shea has some emergency training through the volunteer ambulance and fire department (past 15 years) and had some training but that was 25 years ago. Terry O'Shea found his training (that which he could recall) useful. Terry O'Shea says the Ministry of Natural Resources was very useful to the recovery on the island, that it would have taken longer to form an emergency committee and set priorities in their absence.

Terry O'Shea had no contact with the media, he referred them to the mayor. Terry O'Shea says they had releases from the EMO on how to deal with stress -- a three or four page release came after a few days when they realized it not going to be over in one or two days. Terry O'Shea says that everyone had a certain level of stress that manifested in "being a little short every once in a while." Terry O'Shea says there was no major effect on his family but everyone got over-tired and anxious. The Wolfe Island council has not done a debrief or prepared a report in the wake of the ice storm, but there has been discussion about what could have been done differently every time council meets -- but no formal documentation. Terry O'Shea has some notes but they are not formal -- he thinks the mayor may have notes on what progress was made on what days. Terry O'Shea has no data on costs but directs us to Carol Dwyer (Treasurer).