Minutes after notification, Bob King VE6BLD established net control on the VE6QE hub for the Central Alberta Repeater VHF Network from his home in Lacombe, Alberta. Bob started calling out amateur radio operators from throughout the region, and assigned them to the tasks where their individual skills would be most useful.

Bob’s amateur radio site was able to communicate directly with the Pine Lake Tornado site 30km southeast of Lacombe (line of sight distance). Bob also had direct contact with Red Cross amateur radio operators in Red Deer, Edmonton, and if needed Calgary

It was over an hour later that official call out systems began notifying the Red Cross amateur radio operators of the emergency. In some cases amateurs were called out 3 hours after arriving on site at Pine Lake.

By approximately 2015 (tornado touchdown plus 1 hour) official callouts started to reach assistant RAC Emergency Coordinator Darren Misik VE6ZZM and Bob King was instructed to assume formal Net Control and declare an emergency net operation. This requires that all other amateur radio operations in the area cease immediately.  Net control (VE6BLD) began to check in all available amateur radio operators, assess their locations, resources and potential response times. Many were already on the air due to the unofficial traffic. Telephone call outs were also followed up.

By 2045 Net control (VE6BLD) and Emergency Coordinator (VE6ZZM in transit to site) are getting a picture of the scope of the disaster and with the approach of nightfall decide to mobilize additional resources such as generators, lights and additional radios.

The first response teams are on site at Pine Lake at 2100 and begin a needs assessment.VE6PNQ immediately calls for additional high powered radios as handheld radio use is marginal. The team at the “Hub” community center 2 km from the Green Acres campground begin relaying first requests from the Red Cross staff at 2115 (tornado touchdown plus 2 hours).

Amateur radio operators working side by side with Red Cross Registration teams and First Aid responders at the evacuation center passed messages with instructions to Red Cross volunteers who were starting to arrive at the Red Cross office in Red Deer. Many amateur radio operators were directed to the Red Cross office in Red Deer to help mobilize the Red Cross volunteer teams.

Typical radio traffic included calls by Red Deer Red Cross staff advising the Edmonton Red Cross of the need for more trained Registration and Inquiry teams,  volunteer coordinators and additional field supplies for the reception centers, the deployment of resources and volunteers to the reception centers in Red Deer and family re-unification queries.

Traffic was passed from RCMP sources requesting additional copies of all registered victims and information from hospital registrations as the search and rescue teams tried to establish a total count of people resident in the campground.

Shortly after 0015 amateurs are requested to begin trying to locate evacuation buses that have not arrived at the reception locations designated in local disaster plans. Most buses lack effective radio communications (City of Red Deer buses were operating well beyond the range of the City of Red Deer’s new 800 mhz trunking radios, many of the school buses used had no radios at all). Amateur radio operators are dispatched to all known reception facilities. The hunt goes on for hours and amateurs attempt to reconnect victims to the resources and volunteers that are awaiting them.

By 0300 (tornado touchdown plus 8 hours) most victims have been evacuated from the Pine Lake area except those who wish to stay the night at the “Hub” community center. By 0415 Net Control VE6BLD finishes reporting to Red Cross Edmonton VE6RCE and stands down from Net Control at 0435.

For the next 2 days net control is operated out of VE6RCR at Red Cross Red Deer using rotating shifts of amateurs. Amateur radio activity is light during site search operations until Tuesday July 11 when the RCMP begin to open the disaster area for disaster site reentry for victims and  farm recovery operations. But that is another story on another page.

The Red Cross emergency responders were made aware of the road closures and traffic problems by monitoring other VHF frequencies and we opted to leave most of our vehicles at the Red Cross office and take one Red Cross van full of supplies, every handheld radio we could find and VE6ZZM’s VHF/UHF cross band and HF equipped car into the site.

Walking wounded and uninjured campers were quickly moved from the Green Acres campsite to the “Hub” community centre approximately 2 km north of the campsite and at a higher elevation than Pine Lake.

Laura Misik VE6LGM, Garry McCallum VE6PNQ and Mike Karp VE6MBK (all first aid trained) established Red Cross communications at the “Hub” community centres in support of Red Cross Registration and Inquiry and First Aid operations. Handheld VHF operations to the VE6QE repeater were marginally possible from this site. Extreme patience and clarity of communications by Net Control VE6BLD became essential under such poor signal conditions. Later in the night Ron DitchburnVE6DIT was able to get his car past the roadblocks and into the “Hub” site to provide high powered capability into the repeater network.

Ground Zero RAC Assistant Emergency Co-ordinator, Darren Misik VE6ZZM moved immediately to the main disaster site, established liaison with the site commander and set up a cross band repeater link in his car from 446.000 to the VHF input of the VE6QE repeater west of Red Deer. HF mobile equipment was held in reserve. Howard Biederman VE6FS helped VE6ZZM on site and then moved to the Red Deer College reception centre.

The Recovery PhaseMonday morning saw a change in the nature of the operation. Farmers along the tornado’s path had been impacted by everything from the loss of their homes and farm buildings to being unable to harvest crops due to debris that the tornado had dumped on their fields. Many crops are now ready to harvest.  The farmers, who had largely been ignored during the rescue operations at the campground now became the focus of a massive volunteer effort to sweep the farms of tornado debris, restore power to farm equipment such as milking systems and help return livestock to the proper owners.

The sheer force of a compact multi vortex tornado is demonstrated in this picture of debris in the Green Acres campground at Pine Lake, Alberta

Garry McCallum VE6PNQ  logging traffic to VE6RCR at the Red Cross Office in Red Deer. The station handled traffic requesting the acquisition and delivery of food, water, ice, sunscreen and insect repellent to the hundreds of volunteers in the field from July 18 to July 21.

Darren Misik VE6ZZM pictured practicing emergency communications under canvas near Elnora during International Field Day exercises. Just 3 weeks later Darren was co-ordinating Red Cross communications at the Pine Lake Tornado Disaster. The CARL club tents were used to shelter volunteers in the field.

Sandy Jacobs VE6SND operating the Red Cross control station VE6RCR during the Pine Lake Tornado operation. Sandy and RAC Central Alberta EC Garry Jacobs VE6CIA returned from the Glacier – Waterton Hamfest to help co-ordinate Red Cross amateur radio operations.

RAC Assistant Emergency Co-ordinator, Darren Misik VE6ZZM (right) and  Red Cross emergency co-ordinator Niki Dalton (left) survey the tornado damage at Pine Lake, Alberta, Canada. Darren VE6ZZM was one of the first Red Cross amateurs on scene arriving with Laura Misik VE6LGM, Garry McCallum VE6PNQ, Mike Karp VE6MBK. Darren was one of the last amateurs to leave the devastated h

LeeAnne Shinski, Red Cross staff member, surveys the damage at the Green Acres Campground. Red Cross staff from the Red Deer, Alberta office were front line responders to Friday’s tornado. Hundreds of Red Cross staff, volunteers and amateur radio operators had been working on the disaster since early Friday evening.

For more information about Radio amateurs of Canada (RAC), and the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES), connect to the RAC website www.rac.ca For a list of Alberta Emergency Coordinators connect to RAC at http://www.rac.ca/aresab.htm For more information about the amateur radio services provided to the Red Cross by RAC read the MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING

For more information about the Red Cross response to the Pine Lake Tornado connect to the Red Cross web site. www.redcross.ca Donations to the Red Cross Disaster Fund can be made on their web site or by calling 1-800-418-1111 Editors Note: The Canadian Red Cross has already collected enough money to cover the costs incurred during the Pine Lake Tornado. Those cost were incurred during the first few days of the disaster.  The Red Cross was spending money on the victims of the Pine Lake Tornado within hours of touchdown. That money came from donations made prior to the tornado. Your further contributions will be set aside for the next crisis. Disasters are “come as you are” events. Media Links Compiled by the Central Alberta Radio League (1955-2003), amateur radio communicators for the Red Cross response during the Pine Lake Tornado. This page was a continuing work in progress that was first created within 24 hours of the tornado touching down July 14, 2000.  The number of web sites that are maintaining stories about the Pine Lake Tornado gets less with every passing month as various news agencies purge their web sites of “old news”. Please notify the Central Alberta Amateur Radio Club webmaster via email: webmaster@caarc.ca of any “dead links” or “404” errors that you may find on this page and we will delete them RDTV Video Tape – “Tornado Tragedy at Pine Lake” – (60 mins) available from RDTV for $19.95 email rdtv@rdtc.wic.ca or mail check to RDTV 2nd Floor 2840 Bremmer Avenue, Red Deer, Alberta, T4R 1M9 This is the best compilation of news video about the Pine Lake Tornado that we have seen. The Red Deer Advocate – connect to http://www.reddeeradvocate.com/news/news.asp Archived Pine Lake Tornado Stories Lake salvage seeks debris; water tested-By Jack Wilson-Advocate staff-7/21/00 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation CBC Calgary Special Reports July 17, 2000 The CBC Pine Lake Tornado archive up to July 17, 2000. Additional CBC Stories People unaccounted for after deadly Alta. tornado July 16, 2000 Severe storm warning issued before tornado hit July 16, 2000 Prince Edward offers condolences to Alberta families July 17, 2000 Chretien to visit site of killer tornado July 18, 2000 Tornado survivors return to collect possessions July 19, 2000 Scientist proposes new theory to fight tornados August 10, 2000 Canada.com Canada.com Coverage Archives of the Pine Lake Tornado The Canada.com Pine Lake Tornado photo archive Wind of mystery Pine Lake: After the tornado – July 26, 2000 Canadaonline.com Killer Tornado Hits Alberta – July 15, 2000 Updated: 07/19/00 The Western Wheel (Okotoks) Editorial- Pine Lake Tornado a reminder of vulnerability – July 19, 2000 Pine Lake tornado victims to receive relief assistance from local clubs – July 19, 2000 Halifax Herald ‘Miracle baby’ virtually unscathed after three-storey toss CNN Tornado kills seven, injures more than 30 in Alberta, Canada July 15, 2000 9 die in Alberta campground tornado July 15, 2000 Canadian military to join search for more tornado victims July 16, 2000 Alberta, Canada Residents Face Aftermath of Deadly Tornado July 20, 2000 City of Calgary New Release Update from The City of Calgary re: Pine Lake Tornado – July 15, 2000 PINE LAKE COMMUNITY RESPONSE LINE – July 20, 2000 CISD Debriefings – July 24, 2000 The Tornado Project Online http://www.tornadoproject.com/ Environment Canada Greenline Pine Lake Tornado Chronology Satellite Imagery University of Wisconsin GOES-10 10.7 Micrometer IR Pine Lake, Alberta Tornado – July 14, 2000 GOES-8 Visible Channel Pine Lake, Alberta Tornado – July 14, 2000 Pine Lake Tornado Responders Responder VE6MIM Mike Mailhiot Unless you are an amateur radio operator or you live in Oriole Park, Red Deer you probably don’t know who Mike Mailhiot is. His neighbors may know him as “the guy down the street with the big antennas on his house”. Not all of them are entirely pleased with the height of his antennas but most of his neighbors are supportive of his amateur radio hobby and the public service that Mike provides.As a member of CFARS (Canadian Forces Affiliate Radio System) Mike has worked on the Y2K project, passed personal messages to Canadian troops overseas, been involved in the Amateur Radio Emergency Service, and was one of the first amateur radio operators to establish contact from his home in Red Deer to amateur radio operators arriving with Search and Rescue at the Pine Lake Tornado Disaster. During the first hours of the Red Cross deployment to Pine Lake Mike moved radio equipment from his home to the Red Cross offices in Red Deer where he operated throughout the night organizing teams to answer phones, operating radios and performing instant Registration and Inquiry training to incoming volunteers. He left his daughter, Tara VE6TMM, to operate the radios at home.When Red Cross operations shifted from emergency response to recovery operations Mike donated the use of his radio equipped motor home as a base of operations on a farm near the Pine Lake tornado site. Mike Mailhiot VE6MIM established the emergency VHF station at the Red Deer offices of the Canadian Red Cross and began recruiting amateurs to aid the Red Cross by manning the phones and radios. In the initial hours the Red Cross staff and volunteers were overwhelmed. Many amateurs who responded never touched a radio because they were needed to answer phones at the Red Cross office and relay messages to the radio room. The Red Cross office was initially operated by one Red Cross volunteer, amateur radio operators VE6MIM, VE6SJD,VE6JHG,VE6KEN,VE6NTT and others whose names got lost in the confusion. Some were simply driving down Highway 2, heard the call on VE6QE and stayed the entire night. Mike has been a key organizer of the Red Deer / Three Hills component of an annual International amateur radio training exercise known simply as “Field Day”, an event where amateur radio operators around the world practice emergency mobile communications. This year the event was held June 23, 24, 25 with the Central Alberta amateurs parked in a field just a few miles south of the Pine Lake Tornado Disaster site. Many of the people who were practicing emergency communications at Field Day were the same people who provided communications during the Pine Lake tornado disaster. It pays to practice.Thursday night, 6 days into the Pine Lake tornado disaster, a violent thunderstorm moved across north Red Deer. Lightning struck the Mailhiot house, destroying all of the communications equipment pictured at the top of this page. Damages to his communications equipment are estimated to be in excess of eighteen thousand dollars. Mike VE6MIM was there when the people of Pine Lake needed him. Hopefully his insurance company will be there for Mike and his family when they need help replacing a resource that was invaluable during the tornado. Amateur Radio Operators who answered the call (as listed in net control logs, in no particular order) VE6VOX – Joel Weder – Olds VE6DIT – Ron Ditchburn – Innisfail VE6TCO – James Currie – Elnora VE6EJS – Edward Szymanek  -  Eckville VE6PNQ – Garry McCallum – Red Deer VE6LDM – Douglas Matheson – Red Deer VE6NM – Earle Smith – Grande Prairie VE6RLA – Richard Astle – Olds VE6ALE – David Mathews – Elnora VE6LGM – Laura Misik – Red Deer VE6MM – Dick Krogman – Red Deer VE6GRO – Colin Groeger – Red Deer VE6MIM – Mike Mailhiot – Red Deer VE6JCL – Phillip Calderbank – New Norway VE6QA – James McGrath – Red Deer VE6TMM – Tara Wade – Red Deer VE6NTT – Donald Sipes – Calgary VE6CLY – Cyril Hughs – Elnora VE6KEN – Ken MacDonald – Elnora VE6DJC – Doug Corrigan – Lacombe VE6SJD – Susan Getty – Clive VE6JHG – Jim Getty – Clive VE6TRL – Tammy Higginbottom – Elnora VE6SNL – Gary Stewart – Red Deer VE6LHW – Leslie Worrall -  Edmonton VE6HPY – John Malinic – Red Deer VE6ZZM – Darren Misik – Red Deer VE6SV – Gordon Kosmenko – Sherwood Park VE6ROH – Rod Martin – Red Deer VE6BLD – Bob King – Lacombe VE6PMX – Peter Wilkinson – Olds VE6WCE – Gerald Welch – Sylvan Lake VE6CKC – Brain Davies – Innisfail VE6MRK – Archie Merkley – Red Deer VE6CRY – Patrick Carey – Red Deer VE6CMQ – Shirley Hughes – Elnora VE6BLD – Bob King – Lacombe VE6CHU – Cecil Friesen – Red Deer VE6CIA – Garry Jacobs – Red Deer VE6SND – Sandra Jacobs – Red Deer VE6ONE – John Kostiw – Red Deer Red Cross Stations Search and Rescue Additional Assistance VE6RCE – Red Cross Edmonton VE6HPY – John Malinic – Red Deer VE6OX – Al Smith – Pine Lake VE6RCR – Red Cross Red Deer VE6GRO – Colin Groeger VE6BCA – Brian Crisall – Ednonton VE6RCC – Red Cross Calgary VE6JDK – David Dick – Edson The BEAR group (Balloon Experiments with Amateur Radio, Edmonton Area) VE6PNQ – Garry VE6MIM – Mike On site VE6BLD – Bob VE6SND – Sandy How the Pine Lake Tornado Image was Created. by Andrew Stark, Calgary (Copy of email from Andrew Stark to Garry McCallum VE6PNQ) Subject Re GEOS 8 Tornado image Hi back Garry, Where to begin … I am an amateur meteo-buff in Calgary. The afternoon of the tornado I was monitoring the Nasa Global Hydrology and Climate Center website wwwghcc.msfc.nasa.gov Anyone who is interested should have this site bookmarked. One can acquire fairly up to date Goes shots in IR, Visible or Water Vapor (as I’m sure you know). It allows one to zoom in, and animate up to 30 frames of history (at 15 minute increments). Delightful for ‘armchair storm chasers’. I knew things were becoming extremely volatile in the Penhold and Red Deer area, so I captured and saved to disk, several visible images over an hour or so. When the news came over the radio, of the disaster at Pine Lake, I reviewed the captured picture closest to the time reported. The super cell was cleary visible from my window here in Calgary. I opened the picture in Adobe Photoshop to have a closer look as it was hard to believe I was seeing such violent outflow from so far above. By using the array of filters and sharpening tools in Adobe, I had no doubt. I grabbed a map of the Pine Lake area, from the Net, and scaled it and lined it up roughly to the longitude. Then I cut the piece out of the Goes picture and zoomed and scaled that, and put everything back on the page. This was all done winging it with a ruler and an ‘eyeball’. Sure, please use this public information. I don’t mind you referring to me at all. The credit, though, sure seems to belong to Nasa! The graphics part I do as a sideline in my work. I deeply admire what you folks do. So often you are the front line of vital public information, and assistance. I appreciate your compliment and think I’ll follow your website from now on. Sincerely, Andrew Stark GOES-10 Visible Channel Pine Lake, Alberta Tornado – July 14, 2000