As Orillia begins the long and complicated road to recovery following a weekend-long ice storm that paralyzed the city, Orillia Fire Chief Chris Ferry is offering a clearer picture of the magnitude of the emergency — and the ongoing risks residents still face.
“As of last night at midnight, we had responded to about 160 calls,” Ferry said Monday. “The vast majority of those have been related to trees and wires down across the city. We’ve also responded to fire alarms, carbon monoxide alarms, and one fire call — but so far, no fires have been directly attributed to the storm itself.”
To handle the overwhelming call volume, the department scaled up its operations significantly. That included adding a second dispatcher to the communications centre and calling in extra volunteer firefighters to back up front-line crews.
“At one point, we had so many calls coming in, we had to prioritize them,” Ferry explained. “Anything life-threatening was addressed immediately, and the others were queued. That’s just the reality when you’re dealing with an event of this scale.”
While the freezing rain has subsided and ice has melted from many trees, danger still lingers — especially from precariously hanging branches and downed wires. Ferry urged residents to stay away from parks and wooded areas, noting significant storm damage at Kitchener Park, Tudhope Park, and Couchiching Beach Park in particular.
“We’re seeing large branches still suspended in trees. They could fall at any time,” he warned. “We’re also continuing to see live wires down in some areas. We really need the public to treat every wire as live and stay clear.”
Hydro One crews are working closely with the city and emergency responders as they navigate widespread outages. Since a state of emergency was declared, Ferry said he’s in direct communication with Hydro One’s emergency management coordinator twice daily to coordinate response efforts.
Despite the scale of the storm’s impact, Orillia has so far managed without external firefighting support.
“This storm hit the entire region, so we didn’t want to pull resources from other municipalities that are facing the same challenges,” Ferry said. “Our own staff has been able to manage our incidents here in the city.”
Ferry says the hardest-hit areas include the north end of Orillia, especially north of Coldwater Road, and parts of the south ward where older, mature trees were more vulnerable to ice accumulation.
Beyond the obvious hazards of falling limbs and electrical lines, Ferry emphasized the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning in households that have lost power.
“We’ve already seen some concerning behaviour — people running generators in garages or cooking indoors with barbecues,” he said. “We need people to be extremely cautious. Generators should be kept away from open doors and windows, and barbecues should never be used inside.”
To support residents still without power, the city has opened the Orillia Recreation Centre as a warming and charging station.
“If people need to charge devices— especially medical devices — they’re welcome there. It’s open and available for anyone who needs it,” Ferry said.
As cleanup continues and Hydro One crews work around the clock to restore power, Ferry’s message is to stay vigilant, stay clear of danger zones, and check on vulnerable neighbours.
“This was a storm like no other in recent memory,” he said. “We’re asking people to stay patient and safe while we work through it together.”