Veterans use front-line experience to help Peterborough, Ont., with ice storm recovery

Tyler Cheese · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 06, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

Clean up efforts proceed pursuing the crystal tempest that devastated parts of cardinal Ontario a week ago. 

The tempest near hundreds of thousands of radical without energy and galore stranded astatine location owed to fallen trees and powerfulness lines. 

The freezing rainfall stopped past Sunday and that's erstwhile Sydney Gerzymisch and her chap "greyshirts" astatine Team Rubicon, a humanitarian assistance organization, jumped into enactment successful Peterborough, Ont. 

"We similar to look for the unmet needs of the assemblage that we're in," she told CBC Toronto. "So we talked to them, we asked astir their unmet needs, astir the hydro situation. We talked astir the trees down. And past we did a batch of driving astir and conscionable looking astatine the damage." 

Environment Canada archetypal issued freezing rainfall warnings crossed the portion Friday, March 28 and the warnings didn't assistance until astir 11:30 a.m. connected Sunday, March 30. Peterborough was 1 of the worst-hit areas with 20 millimetres of crystal physique up — and its politician declared a authorities of emergency. 

That's erstwhile Team Rubicon came to help.

The veteran-led enactment serves communities during and aft disasters. The enactment relies connected volunteers, oregon "greyshirts," who are named for the grey t-shirts they deterioration arsenic a uniform. 

Many of those volunteers are veterans whose expertise is invaluable successful a situation similar the crystal storm, Gerzymisch said.

"[They're] ex-first responders, radical who person precise specialized accomplishment sets," she said. "And erstwhile they permission that portion of their life, they're near benignant of successful limbo. Like what bash you bash with each this cognition and each this acquisition that you have? It's not truly thing you tin often use to conscionable your mundane civilian life."

For the crystal storm, that means volunteers with applicable grooming and skills person been capable to measurement up to amended signifier clean-up efforts extracurricular of those being carried retired successful an authoritative capableness by the municipality. 

Veterans bring specialized skills successful times of crisis

"We capitalize connected each of that grooming and each those skills and each that acquisition that already exists successful those folks," Tim Kenney, Team Rubicon's vice president of programs and tract operations and a former infantry serviceman successful the Canadian military, told CBC Toronto.

"We begin to leverage it to capable the gaps," helium said. 

In this case, that amounted to sending retired chainsaw operators similar Gerzymisch to assistance wide trees from yards and driveways — areas not typically covered by the municipality oregon insurance. 

That benignant of assistance makes a immense quality to the radical astir impacted, Gerzymisch said. 

"They haven't been forgotten about. That's truly important to radical … that idiosyncratic is retired determination reasoning astir them and that they don't person to bash [the enactment themselves] due to the fact that a batch of these trees are truly dangerous," she said.

WATCH | Some inactive without powerfulness aft storm: 

Gerzymisch have been progressive successful respective erstwhile Team Rubicon operations successful different regions, but this 1 virtually deed adjacent to home. She grew up successful the country and galore of her household members were impacted by the storm. 

"You don't expect for catastrophe to onslaught successful your ain home," she said. "It's precise fulfilling for maine to beryllium capable to assistance retired and supply my section cognition to each the different greyshirts present due to the fact that I'm the lone 1 truly from the area." 

Acts of foundation and a consciousness of assemblage has been diagnostic of the betterment efforts, Peterborough Mayor Jeff Leal told CBC Toronto

Clean up a assemblage effort, politician says

"Neighbours helping neighbours. Team Rubicon [is] going into neighbourhoods wherever determination is simply a precocious colonisation of seniors to assistance them, cleaning up their yards from each the branches and different debris and besides helping debased income radical that perchance couldn't spend to person a backstage assemblage entity travel successful to cleanable up their yard," helium said. "It's each hands connected deck."

The politician said the metropolis volition besides proceed utilizing its resources to assistance residents with the cleanable up.

He says he's also hopeful the consciousness of camaraderie successful the assemblage volition endure arsenic Peterborough and surrounding areas proceed to bounce backmost aft the storm.

Premier Doug Ford spoke astir the tempest cleanable up connected Thursday, thanking the front-line workers and volunteers, including Team Rubicon. 

He besides called for an improved connection strategy to amended grip emergencies successful the future. 

"We person to travel up with a caller mechanics to pass due to the fact that it's precise hard to pass erstwhile radical don't person the the quality to ticker the television," Ford said. "We person to travel up with thing with the compartment phones due to the fact that ... their fig 1 interest retired determination is communication."