Snow Plowing Procedures
As soon as the roads become slippery, we respond with
between four and eight sand trucks. Normally we receive notification of
slippery conditions from the Police or, when snow occurs during normal
working hours, we monitor the roads ourselves.
If the weather forecast calls for 1 to 2 inches or less
of snow accumulation, we will usually continue to sand and monitor road
conditions. Once the snow stops, the sand trucks are dismissed.
If the snow accumulates beyond 1 to 2 inches, we call in
the rest of the large trucks and begin plowing. At this point, we will
have thirteen trucks plowing the roads. Additionally, we will call in 3
to 4 pickup trucks. These pickup trucks are used to clean up cul-de-sacs
and areas where the larger trucks cannot get into and to keep the
parking lots and entrance-ways to the Firehouses, Police Department and
Town Hall open.
Additionally, at least 1 front-end loader is working,
sometimes 2. The trucks continue to work until the roads are clean and
then they go to the various Town and school buildings to plow the
parking lots.
We also have a sidewalk crew who responds with 3 to 5
pickup trucks at the inception of the storm. If the storm becomes worse,
more people will be called for sidewalk duty. At full force we put out
an assortment of snow blowers mounted on tractors, walk-behind snow
blowers, smaller snow throwers and shovels. The sidewalk crew normally
has approximately 9 people on it, plus temps when available.
The foregoing is a general guideline and is altered to
fit various conditions as they occur. Critical considerations as to
exactly what type of action we take are:
- What time of day is it (Are we in a rush hour or not?);
- What day of the week is it;
- How fast is the snow is falling;
- What conditions are we expecting after the storm;
- How much wind we are getting;
- Whether or not schools are going to be open;
- Ambient and road temperatures, etc.
Each and every storm has a slight to major difference
contained in it and we modify our plans and react to conditions as they
occur. Different mixtures of sand and salt, for example, will be used
for different temperatures and different types of storms. How quickly we
activate the entire force will depend on what time the snow starts to
fall. If we expect a major snowfall and it begins at 3:30 or 4:00 in the
morning, we may activate the entire force immediately so as to be on
the streets during the rush hour. The foregoing is a very general
guideline and is subject to change as conditions change.