Snow plow file photo courtesy of © Can Stock Photo / svanhornSnow plow file photo courtesy of © Can Stock Photo / svanhorn
Chatham

Municipality Makes Do During Snow Plow Shortage

Snow plow drivers in Chatham-Kent are gearing up for a busy 24 hours.

Environment Canada says the region is expected to get at least 15 cm of snow by Friday night.

Miguel Pelletier, Chatham-Kent’s director of public works, says now that the municipality is down a few snow plows, some arrangements had to be made. He says snow plows have been taken from other public works garages in the municipality to fill the void in Ridgetown.

This comes after a public works garage went up in flames Sunday night. Pelletier says six vehicles were destroyed in the fire, five of which were snow plows.

"We may see a difference once there's a large storm because we'll be short one plow in certain garages," he says. "It may take us longer to get to some of the lower priority routes."

However, on days on which there are snowfall amounts of 10cm or less in a day, Pelletier says residents shouldn't notice a difference.

In the event that the snowfall becomes too much, too fast, Pelletier says there is a plan to make surhigh-travelled roads are safe for drivers to use.

"We do have some contractors in areas around Chatham-Kent that can [help]," he says.

Pelletier adds the municipality is aiming to have replacement vehicles in place for next winter.

"We are working on a purchasing plan. We had planned to replace some vehicles so we're going to be looking to see if we can leverage those contracts that are already in place," he says. "We haven't made any decisions yet or any contracts -- that's the type of thing we're looking at to maybe expedite the procurement process."

In order to help the drivers out plowing municipal roads, Pelletier is asking local residents to drive at a safe distance from the plows and follow the parking ban put in place.

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