When North Perth declared a state of emergency

Friday, December 5, 2014

On a Friday in April 2013, with trees and power lines going down, the directors of the municipality gathered at the North Perth Listowel fire station. It would be the first time that the mayor had to declare an emergency

by MARY BAXTER

It was a Friday in mid-April 2013 but, early that morning, Pat Berfelz, clerk for the Municipality of North Perth, already had her eye on the weather. The night before freezing rain had started and by lunchtime on Friday it was much worse. "I had people throughout the building saying things like 'we've got this down here, we've got this line down; trees are falling here; the fire chief's calling wanting to know what's all happening.' "

She responded to the questions as best she could, but it had become apparent "that we could very easily lose control."

Berfelz is the alternate emergency management co-ordinator for her municipality, a position that assists with co-ordinating the delivery of the municipality's community emergency management program. Provincial emergency management legislation requires all Ontario municipalities to have an emergency management program and designate a co-ordinator. In Perth County, the co-ordinator is located in the upper tier government; each of its four municipalities designates an alternate co-ordinator.

Perth County's emergency management plan, finalized in January 2014, describes an emergency as a situation or impending situation "caused by forces of nature, a disease or health risk, accident or an act intentional or otherwise that constitutes a danger of major proportions to life and property. They affect public safety, health, welfare and property, as well as the environment and economic health" of a particular jurisdiction.

At North Perth, emergency preparedness is taken very seriously, says Berfelz, who describes the municipality's staff as "keeners."

While there is a yearly requirement for training and conducting an exercise, "we sometimes have two or three exercises, only because the staff here really want to be on top of it," she explains.

And on that chilly April afternoon, Berfelz had a gut feeling that it might be an idea to call the emergency control group together to talk – "not to declare an emergency," she is quick to explain, because that would have meant inviting other partners to the table such as the OPP or emergency management services. For the time being, just the directors of the municipality gathered around the table at the North Perth Listowel fire station early in the afternoon.

"From there," she says, "it was a total ripple effect." More people arrived; they learned of more power outages and road closures. There was growing awareness of bills piling up. "And that was what triggered the opportunity for us to consider declaring an emergency," she says, explaining that, if they hadn't, they might not have been eligible for provincial financial assistance. Such a declaration would also help to focus the community on the situation, she adds. So, that afternoon, the municipality's mayor, Julie Behrns, declared a state of emergency.

It was the first time the municipality had ever declared an emergency and one of the greatest challenges was how best to inform residents of the decision. "We started by radio and Facebook and everything possible electronically," Berfelz says. "Then, from there, we did several other things. We did information at the grocery stores and we took information to churches." The municipality does not have an automatic telephone alert system.

While power was restored to most of hydro customers in Listowel that afternoon, residents in rural areas and outlying communities such as Elma and Wallace remained without power for several days, and the state of emergency persisted until April 16.

Ed Smith, the municipality's fire chief, recalls that they responded to 15 calls at the municipality's three fire stations between April 13 and 18. Normally they might average two to three. "So that was an abnormally high week for us."

During power outages, the most common types of calls they receive, he says, are automatic alarms when householders' battery systems begin to fail, hydro lines go down and spark or tree limbs down on hydro lines and problems with carbon monoxide alarms.

The municipality did not declare an emergency when ice storms struck again in December 2013. After the April crisis, "we were prepared," Berfelz says, "although it was not nearly as difficult." Nevertheless, it has taken the municipality a long time to fully recover from that storm, she adds, noting that in October they were still cleaning out ditches and chipping up brush.

Berfelz emphasizes the importance of everyone being prepared for an emergency. "Only the individuals can prepare for themselves. Everyone should have a 72-hour kit" and should check on it every three months and make replacements where necessary. "People just need to take the whole planning for an emergency farm more seriously and I think our local farmers learned the importance of having a generator. Not only a generator but having the appropriate amount of gasoline or diesel or whatever is required to operate one." BF