Snowfall Prompts Nightshift For City Crews

By 250 News

                                                                      Opinion250 file photo

Prince George, B.C. -  Although the snowfall has eased to just a few flakes this hour, the City has decided to schedule an evening shift for snow removal crews in a bid to stay on top of what could be a weekend whiteout.

The City's Supervisor of Fleet Services, Mick Jones, says, "We try not to base too much on forecasts because they change frequently, so we do try to react based on what's actually on the ground."  However, with approximately five-centimetres falling over the course of the morning and early afternoon, Jones says crews will be out tonight so as not to fall too far behind, should the weekend forecast hold true.

Environment Canada is calling for between 5-10cm tomorrow and a further 10cm on Sunday.  It took City staff and contracted crews five days to fully clean-up after last week's two big dumps, but, fortunately, they came during the week.  "If snow happens during the week, we're set, because we have City staff on days, afternoons and nights," says the supervisor.  "Basically, the only time we don't have any scheduled coverage is roughly from 11pm Saturday night until 11pm Sunday night."

"Anytime during the week, we're set, we have our fleet ready to go -- they're out there making sure the streets are safe, sanded, and accessible for everybody. And if we get more snow (then) it's just a matter of increasing the amount of contracted equipment."

Jones says, "The weekend is tougher, basically, just because we don't have as much staff scheduled, so then it's extra work, it's overtime, it's a call."  He says a decision will be made tomorrow about bringing in a day shift on Sunday.

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