Editing Halifax Explosion (section)

==Rescue efforts==
[[File:Aftermath in Halifax of the great Halifax explosion 1917.jpg|thumb|alt=A group of people stand among rubble|Aftermath in Halifax, the start of rescue efforts]]
{{External media|width=210px|float=right|video1=[https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/1.3593616 Surviving the disaster of the Halifax Explosion], 6:54, 1 December 1957, [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC Archive]]}}
First rescue efforts came from surviving neighbours and co-workers who pulled and dug out victims from buildings. The initial informal response was soon joined by surviving policemen, firefighters and military personnel who began to arrive, as did anyone with a working vehicle; cars, trucks and delivery wagons of all kinds were enlisted to collect the wounded.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/metro/1256017-weekend-focus-helping-hands-for-victims-of-halifax-explosion/|work=The Chronicle Herald|title=Helping hands for victims of Halifax Explosion|author=Shiers, Kelly|date=6 December 2014|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170608211417/https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/metro/1256017-weekend-focus-helping-hands-for-victims-of-halifax-explosion/|url-status=dead|archivedate=8 June 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://marinecurator.blogspot.ca/2013/12/pennies-from-hell.html |author=Conlin, Dan|title=Pennies from Hell: A Milkman's pennies from the Halifax Explosion|publisher=Maritime Museum of the Atlantic|date=5 December 2013|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131211131009/http://marinecurator.blogspot.ca/2013/12/pennies-from-hell.html|archivedate=11 December 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://exhibits.hsl.virginia.edu/halifax/volunteers/|publisher=University of Virginia|title=Volunteers|work=From one moment to the next: the Halifax Explosion|year=2007|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150102084125/http://exhibits.hsl.virginia.edu/halifax/volunteers/|url-status=dead|archivedate=2 January 2015}}</ref>{{sfn|Flemming|2004|pp=53–55}} A flood of victims soon began to arrive at the city's hospitals, which were quickly overwhelmed.{{sfn|Kitz|1989|p=53}} The new military hospital, Camp Hill, admitted approximately 1,400 victims on 6 December.{{sfn|Kitz|Payzant|2006|p=73}}

Firefighters were among the first to respond to the disaster, rushing to ''Mont-Blanc'' to attempt to extinguish the blaze before the explosion even occurred.{{sfn|Glasner|2011|p=30}} They also played a role after the blast, with fire companies arriving to assist from across Halifax, and by the end of the day from as far away as [[Amherst, Nova Scotia]], ({{convert|200|km|-1|disp=or}}) and [[Moncton, New Brunswick]], ({{convert|260|km|-1|disp=or}}) on relief trains.<ref name=conlin/><ref name=hpff/> [[Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency|Halifax Fire Department]]'s West Street Station 2 was the first to arrive at Pier 6 with the crew of ''Patricia'', the first motorized fire engine in Canada. In the final moments before the explosion, hoses were being unrolled as the fire spread to the docks. Nine members of the Halifax Fire Department lost their lives performing their duty that day.<ref name=hpff>{{cite web|url=http://www.hpff.ca/memorials/halifax-explosion/|title=Memorials – The Halifax Explosion|publisher=Halifax Professional Fire Fighters Association|accessdate=29 April 2015|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150722180453/http://www.hpff.ca/memorials/halifax-explosion/|archivedate=22 July 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://halifaxmag.com/cover/the-last-alarm/|work=Halifax Magazine|title=The last alarm|author=Landry, Janice|date=28 November 2012|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150531213033/http://halifaxmag.com/cover/the-last-alarm/|archivedate=31 May 2015}}</ref>

Royal Navy cruisers in port sent some of the first organized rescue parties ashore. HMS ''Highflyer'', along with the [[armed merchant cruiser]]s HMS ''Changuinola'', HMS ''Knight Templar'' and [[HMS Calgarian|HMS ''Calgarian'']], sent boats ashore with rescue parties and medical personnel and soon began to take wounded aboard.{{sfn|Kitz|Payzant|2006|p=21}} A [[United States Coast Guard|US Coast Guard]] cutter, {{USRC|Morrill|1889|6}}, also sent a rescue party ashore.{{sfn|Larzelere|2003|pp=74, 79–80}} Out at sea, the American cruiser [[USS Tacoma (CL-20)|USS ''Tacoma'']] and armed merchant cruiser [[SS Kronprinz Wilhelm|USS ''Von Steuben'']] (formerly SS ''Kronprinz Wilhelm'') were passing Halifax en route to the United States. ''Tacoma'' was rocked so severely by the blast wave that her crew went to [[general quarters]].<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.crhnet.ca/sites/default/files/library/HazNet_Special_Edition_2014-01-15.pdf|work=HazNet|date=Winter 2014|title=Blasts from the past|page=9}}</ref> Spotting the large and rising column of smoke, ''Tacoma'' altered course and arrived to assist rescue at 2&nbsp;pm. ''Von Steuben'' arrived a half-hour later.{{sfn|Mac Donald|2005|p=70}} The American steamship ''Old Colony'', docked in Halifax for repairs, suffered little damage and was quickly converted to serve as a hospital ship, staffed by doctors and orderlies from the British and American navy vessels in the harbour.{{sfn|Armstrong|2002|pp=28–29, 68}}

Dazed survivors immediately feared that the explosion was the result of a bomb dropped from a German plane.{{sfn|Mac Donald|2005|p=70}} Troops at gun batteries and barracks immediately turned out in case the city was under attack, but within an hour switched from defence to rescue roles as the cause and location of the explosion were determined. All available troops were called in from harbour fortifications and barracks to the North End to rescue survivors and provide transport to the city's hospitals, including the two army hospitals in the city.{{sfn|Armstrong|2002|pp=57–58}}

Adding to the chaos were fears of a potential second explosion. A cloud of steam shot out of ventilators at the ammunition magazine at Wellington Barracks as naval personnel extinguished a fire by the magazine. The fire was quickly put out; the cloud was seen from blocks away and quickly led to rumours that another explosion was imminent.{{sfn|Armstrong|2002|pp=58–59}} Uniformed officers ordered everyone away from the area.{{sfn|Mac Donald|2005|p=100}} As the rumour spread across the city, many families fled their homes. The confusion hampered efforts for over two hours until fears were dispelled by about noon.<ref name="AtCityHall">{{cite web |url=http://www.cbc.ca/halifaxexplosion/he3_shock/he3_shock_city_hall.html |title=The Halifax Explosion – At city hall |publisher=CBC |accessdate=20 January 2012|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120319035347/http://www.cbc.ca/halifaxexplosion/he3_shock/he3_shock_city_hall.html|archivedate=19 March 2012}}</ref>{{sfn|Flemming|2004|p=58}} Many rescuers ignored the evacuation, and naval rescue parties continued working uninterrupted at the harbour.{{sfn|Flemming|2004|p=58}}{{sfn|Armstrong|2002|p=60}}

Surviving railway workers in the railyards at the heart of the disaster carried out rescue work, pulling people from the harbour and from under debris. The overnight train from Saint John was just approaching the city when hit by the blast but was only slightly damaged. It continued into Richmond until the track was blocked by wreckage. Passengers and soldiers aboard used the emergency tools from the train to dig people out of houses and bandaged them with sheets from the sleeping cars. The train was loaded with injured and left the city at 1:30 with a doctor aboard, to evacuate the wounded to [[Truro, Nova Scotia|Truro]].<ref name=conlin/>{{sfn|MacMechan|Metson|1978|pp=42–43}}

Led by [[Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia|Lieutenant Governor]] [[MacCallum Grant]], leading citizens formed the Halifax Relief Commission at around noon. The committee organized members in charge of organizing medical relief for both Halifax and Dartmouth, supplying transportation, food and shelter, and covering medical and funeral costs for victims.<ref name="AtCityHall" />{{sfn|Kitz|Payzant|2006|p=31}} The commission would continue until 1976, participating in reconstruction and relief efforts and later distributing pensions to survivors.{{sfn|Kitz|Payzant|2006|p=32}}<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/halifax-relief-commission/|encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia|title=Halifax Relief Commission|author=Kernaghan, Lois|date=16 December 2013|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150210064122/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/halifax-relief-commission/|archivedate=10 February 2015}}</ref> Men and women turned out to serve as everything from hospital aides to shelter staff, while children contributed to the relief effort by carrying messages from site to site.{{sfn|Sutherland|2017|p=21}} Community facilities like the [[YMCA|Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA)]] were rapidly converted to emergency hospital facilities with medical students providing care.{{sfn|Remes|2016|pp=35–49}}

Rescue trains were dispatched from across Atlantic Canada, as well as the northeastern United States. The first left Truro around 10&nbsp;am carrying medical personnel and supplies, arrived in Halifax by noon and returned to Truro with the wounded and homeless by 3&nbsp;pm. The track had become impassable after Rockingham, on the western edge of Bedford Basin. To reach the wounded, rescue personnel had to walk through parts of the devastated city until they reached a point where the military had begun to clear the streets.{{sfn|Kitz|1989|pp=64–65}} By nightfall, a dozen trains had reached Halifax from the Nova Scotian towns of Truro, [[Kentville, Nova Scotia|Kentville]], Amherst, [[Stellarton, Nova Scotia|Stellarton]], [[Pictou]], and [[Sydney, Nova Scotia|Sydney]] and from New Brunswick, including the town of [[Sackville, New Brunswick|Sackville]], and the cities of [[Moncton]] and Saint John.<ref name=smith/>{{sfn|MacMechan|Metson|1978|p=42}}

Relief efforts were hampered the following day by a [[blizzard]] that blanketed Halifax with {{convert|16|in|cm}} of heavy snow. Trains en route from other parts of Canada and from the United States were stalled in snowdrifts, and telegraph lines that had been hastily repaired following the explosion were again knocked down. Halifax was isolated by the storm, and while rescue committees were forced to suspend the search for survivors, the storm also aided efforts to put out fires throughout the city.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vgpkAAAAIBAJ&pg=1667%2C4270484 |title=Injured dying in snowbound relief trains |work=Calgary Daily Herald |date=8 December 1917 |page=1|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029162641/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vgpkAAAAIBAJ&pg=1667%2C4270484|archivedate=29 October 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.oumedicine.com/docs/ad-psychiatry-workfiles/allthedrt_fall_2008.pdf?sfvrsn=2|pages=9–12|journal=The Newsletter of the Child & Family Disaster Research Training & Education Initiative|title=Disasters in history: the Halifax Explosion of 1917|volume=4|issue=3|date=Fall 2008}}</ref>