'Crazy' stretch of winter has strained West Perth operations crew

Дата публикации: 19-02-2025 22:26:29

One of the most severe stretches of winter in recent years has put a strain on everyone since the start of January, especially the dozen or so members of the West Perth operations department.  West Perth operations director Adam Ryan said his crew — four in Mitchell and eight others in the rural wards of […]

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One of the most severe stretches of winter in recent years has put a strain on everyone since the start of January, especially the dozen or so members of the West Perth operations department. 

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West Perth operations director Adam Ryan said his crew — four in Mitchell and eight others in the rural wards of Hibbert, Logan and Fullarton — haven’t had a break from operating plows throughout the municipality since Dec. 29, a stretch of more than 50 days. 

“It’s absolutely crazy. . . . We haven’t seen anything like this in, I don’t know how many years,” Ryan said Feb. 19, a few days removed from a Family Day long weekend that had snow, squalls and blowing snow that essentially shut down the entire region.

“We haven’t had a break. These guys have been working almost every single day since Dec. 29,” he said. 

During bad weather, shifts typically begin at 4 a.m. and run a maximum of 12 hours, although it’s preferred that the guys complete their usual shifts and punch out at 1 p.m. to get some rest. Most often, though, a couple of workers will stay on until the commute home for everyone else, with relief from the on-call staff when needed, Ryan said. 

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There’s more than 900 kilometres of municipal road to keep clear, not to mention one operator assigned exclusively to the sidewalk plow to regularly maintain the 20 kilometres in Mitchell. Not every sidewalk is cleared, as most residents know. The focus of the sidewalk plow is primarily the north-south stretch from downtown to the town boundaries along Huron Road, Ontario Road, St. George Street and Blanshard Street, and those that lead to the two schools on Frances Street. 

“It’s quite a lot to get through, especially with the events that we’ve had and the high wind warnings and the snow accumulation,” Ryan said. “The banks are to the point where the equipment is down to one lane. The big effort now is just pushing all those big banks back and trying to widen the roads again.” 

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Ryan is in constant communication with colleagues at Perth County, who maintain the county roads, as well as the neighbouring municipalities of Perth East, North Perth, Perth South and Huron East. This communication helps them monitor how things are going, helping municipal staff gauge just how bad the weather conditions are and if plows should be pulled from the roads, which has been done a few times over the past weeks. 

Ryan credits the “very competent” operators that are on staff. 

“They know what they’re doing and act accordingly at whatever needs to be done,” he said. “We’re really, really lucky that way.” 

Operators can legally drive a maximum of 13 hours a day, he noted. 

“With the complement of staff that we have, the level of service isn’t a 24-hour level of service,” Ryan added. 

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Clearing fire hydrants or pushing back high snowbanks in Mitchell is something that’s been neglected of late, Ryan recognizes. With the amount of work needed to clear roads, the department hasn’t yet been able to get to it. Fortunately, members of the public have been helpful in digging out fire hydrants or even assisting the operators with their own tractors and blowers on rural roads where possible. If and when there’s some quiet time, equipment will be out to try to remove some of the dangerous blind spots, Ryan said. 

“There are going to be functions of the operations that can’t be priorities until we have time to clean up,” he said. “We just haven’t had that time. I don’t think we’ve had more than a two-day break after an event since the end of December. That’s where we’re finding it difficult this year . . .  allocating the resources and trying to keep up. Right now, we can’t even think of getting ahead. 

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“There’s only so many hours in the day and so many operators.”

For the most part, Ryan said the public has been sympathetic and thankful for the work the operations department has done over the past two months.

“It’s been pretty good this year. I feel that people have been understanding,” he said. “I think a lot of residents realize that it’s not possible for us to be everywhere at once and to understand that these things do take time.” 

As for the snow-clearing aspect of his budget, Ryan said it’ll be “an eye-opener.” 

“We’ve been so used to everything coming in under budget the last five or six winters. . . .  It’ll definitely be an eye-opener, but this is why we try to inflate those numbers a little bit because you never know,” he said. 

And the worst part is there’s still the entire month of March to get through. 

“Let’s hope that March is a little easier on us,” Ryan said. “The guys could definitely use a bit of a break.” 

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