Christine Whelan FEO, January 19, 2023, VOL. 4 ISSUE 11
I contacted Mayor Wayne Redekop on January 6, after giving him some time to recover and re-group with the inevitable, initial meetings to follow.
The mayor admitted he was still pretty tired. “It wasn’t just a matter of having to work during a time when it was meant to be time off, but I was having to pay attention all the time, with the exception of when I was sleeping.
“You don’t realize that in the moment. Only afterward, when you get a chance to detox, then you realize, wow, this was really challenging.”
He began to describe his role during the days of the blizzard. “And I wasn’t out on the road. I wasn’t out there fixing water mains and clearing snow. I was trying to manage the emergency and was mostly inside dealing with meetings. We had three meetings a day in the beginning, and two meetings a day thereafter, just to keep tabs on things. Of course, there was all the communication in between to respond to people, making sure we did what we could do to assist people.”
“It was a terrible, terrible event but there were also lots of good news stories within it. There are more stories of neighbours reaching out to neighbours, sometimes reaching out to strangers, to accommodate them during the storm, help them out with heat, help them out with food.”
Mayor Redekop chose a story he heard of people who got stuck in a snowdrift and spent the night in their vehicle. “They and another group of four who were also stranded in the same neighbourhood ended up spending the balance of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at a farmhouse. The owner of the farmhouse got his snowblower out and brought them in.
“That’s just one example of people reaching out and helping strangers out in a time of need. And there are many stories of that nature where people were taken in by others. Sometimes it was by family. Sometimes by friends. A lot of times, it was by strangers.”
First Responders
Much appreciation was expressed for Fort Erie’s first responders, both within and beyond. “When the storm hit, it was probably the worst time of the year in terms of responding to an emergency. Meaning, over the Christmas holidays. Individuals who responded to this emergency were planning on having time off work. But, they spent much of the period of December 23rd to December 28th working on snow clearance and restoring power. Not only the town’s crews but other towns’ crews, the Canadian Niagara Power crews, and crews from all over Ontario came in because of the State of Emergency. And, of course, there were our volunteer firefighters” He added, “All of them, by the sixth day of the State of Emergency, were dog-tired. They were absolutely exhausted.”
Taking Action Prior To The Storm – Communication Challenges During
“CNP was out very early, trying to prepare for the storm along the lake. Niagara Parks did the same. They initially closed the Niagara Parkway from Queen Street to Central Avenue near Mather Arch because that always seems to flood.
“We were taking active steps prior to the storm coming. Then, our communications were pretty regular and pretty consistent throughout both on our website and social media,” Redekop began explaining.
“Before the storm began, we were getting out notices, as was CNP, to warn the public about this storm coming and things that may occur. We actually closed some roads along the lake because we were concerned about flooding, with the high winds and the lake that was rising.
“Our fire department also went out and spoke to some of the residents along the lake to advise them to consider alternate accommodations during these days because of what might occur.
“We were working with CNP as well. They were having trouble getting out information. But, by the end of the State of Emergency, CNP was putting out a lot more information.”
He continued about Canadian Niagara Power, “They had an overwhelming job. There were 11,000 households in Fort Erie, which is maybe three-quarters of the households in town, without power at various times during that storm. And some of them didn’t get power until six days later. The vast majority were in power within three or four days.
“We were then facilitating information coming out from CNP, putting out regular updates two or three times a day so that if people wanted the information, it was available. Part of the problem was, people didn’t have the access to a computer or didn’t have a charge so they couldn’t get the messages. And that’s something that we’re going to have to figure out, how we can deal with that issue.”
The mayor talked about the importance of being prepared with backup resources when living in the Fort Erie area.
Generators
We discussed the surprising number of generators that didn’t stand the test of this Fort Erie storm. “They broke down because the snow was blowing into the exhaust, clogging the exhaust, preventing the generators from working,” the mayor stated. “A fair number of people with generators were running into issues.” Even some larger institutions had trouble with their generators because of the strain on their capacity due to the length of time the power was out.
Educating the Community: Bridging The Gaps
“This is something we will be looking at in our debrief. How do we make sure that the public is better aware of the things that they can do, should a State of Emergency arrive? Although we’ve got a plan — and the plan is on our website — most people wouldn’t know that. So, maybe look at some type of facts sheet people can look at, like a checklist.”
Why Not The Military?
So many in the community wondered and asked this question, so I thought I’d pose it to the mayor.
To mobilize the military would take several days. So, they chose a quicker plan.
Redekop explained, “We reached out to our neighbours in Niagara. We have mutual aid agreements with all municipalities for assistance with snow clearance and fire emergencies. Most of them did respond and provided us with assistance. St. Catharines provided us with, at one point, five snow plows.
CNP reached out to power companies across the province and had them coming in from Sudbury, London, Belleville, and all points in between.
“Fire Chief, Mark Schmitt, was on duty virtually 24/7 from December 23, right through to beyond the conclusion of the State of Emergency. He was even involved in helping at the warming centre at the Leisureplex.”
According to the mayor, this was much more effective because, by the time the military would have mobilized, the storm would have been over.”
He then continued to explain, “What we have done is, we have had discussions with Emergency Management Ontario since the end of the worst part of the storm and we’ve determined that they will be a part of our debriefing. They will be actively involved in future emergencies. And they will be able to provide us with information as to what type of resources they have available that could assist us or any other municipality in Ontario in the face of a State of Emergency. That’s a much more logical approach and can be responded to much more quickly.”
Damage: Too Soon To Know
At the time of this interview, there was not yet an estimate on the damages done to the area.
“We know that there is damage done to Point Abino. We know that there was a lot of private property that was damaged. We’ve already been in communication with Emergency Management Ontario and the Ministry of Municipal Affairs on how to deal with applications for disaster relief. We’re working on that but it will take us a while to actually calculate, not only the damage that was done but the additional cost that we’ve been put to in order to manage the storm.”
At the time of this interview, the mayor was not aware of any fatalities that occurred as a result of the storm.
Moving Forward
“We’ll learn from the emergency. Some of the things we’ll learn to do better.
“We’re holding a debriefing session after the dust settles and we have all the information we need, the data we need to review — what was done and how we can respond better if this happens again. And it’s pretty inevitable that it will at some point.” This is the reality of the Greater Fort Erie area.
The Existing Plan: A Public Document
Mayor Redekop shared, “The Town has had an emergency plan in place at least as long as I’ve been involved in local politics and that’s 1991. This most recent plan has continuously been updated and altered to suit the changes that occur in terms of how we can respond with the equipment we’ve got, our access to data, and our ability to communicate information.
“That emergency plan is a public document. It’s been approved by Council. And that’s the document that guided us through this emergency situation. And it’s the document that we will be looking at and presumably be making some modifications to make whatever improvements can be made. We’ve already identified some things that can be done. This is not only from our experience here but from looking at what’s happened elsewhere where they’ve run into similar situations and how they responded.”
The Town of Fort Erie has updated its 72-Hour Emergency Planning Manual on the Town’s website. To view it and download it in PDF, go to the website, forterie.ca, and in Search, type “emergency plan”. Click on the link, Can you survive for 72 hours?
Photo submitted by Jonathan Wilson
