Microstorm

MICROSTORM IN BROME LAKE: TOWN EMPLOYEES RESPOND QUICKLY TO THE EMERGENCY

It was early in the morning on August 11 when the pagers belonging to Town of Brome Lake’s firefighters began to go off. The first call came in just after one in the morning, and the calls continued for the next few hours. The first people to arrive on the scene immediately alerted the Public Works Department, the Sûreté du Québec and Hydro-Québec and set in motion the first phases of the emergency response plan.

Within fifteen minutes of the first call, thirty firefighters with chainsaws were clearing access routes. The first priority was to ensure that no one had been hurt. There were electric wires on the ground in addition to wind damage, broken branches and fallen trees, and no way of knowing whether or not the wires were live. Hydro-Quebec’s employees at the scene requested that the area be cordoned off until daybreak to minimize the risks.

Teams were sent out a short time later to check on the 174 homes in the area, and to make contact with residences where damage could be seen from the exterior. People were notified that although the phone lines would be out for the foreseeable future, the Fire Services would remain close by and able to assist in the case of an emergency. A perimeter was established in order to control access to the area, prevent looting and avoid unnecessary risk to the population.


At dawn, the teams from Hydro-Quebec and the telecommunications companies, as well as an army of tree pruners, got to work clearing up and reconnecting affected homes. The Fire Service remained on duty until the afternoon to keep traffic flow to a minimum.

Within 15 hours, the Fire Service and other Town Employees had checked over a hundred homes, cut back hundreds of branches, cleared more than twenty major obstructions from the road and responded to dozens of fire alarms and electric fires. At the end of the day, everyone appreciated a well-earned rest!