City road crews clearing the snow off Carry Drive during a snow storm in 2019.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Winter is coming and Medicine Hat’s public works is already getting ready for the upcoming season.
Medicine Hat and southern Alberta got a first taste of winter weather over the weekend and while the snow didn’t stick around, it’s got people thinking about the upcoming season.
Jeremy Petryshyn, manager of surface for city assets, says they anticipated the weather over the weekend and were ready to deal with anything if it worsened.
They monitor the weather forecasts and check the radar to see not only how weather is around the city but also throughout Alberta. He says by watching highway cameras they can see if a system is coming from Lethbridge and whether it’s sticking to the roads.
Petryshyn says a lot of their equipment is dual purpose and they will spend the next couple weeks finishing up fall projects and switching over to winter mode once that is done or as dictated by the weather.
“We’re trying to still use that equipment for some fall operations like hauling street sweepings, we’re picking up fall leaves, so we’re using the trucks for that,” Petryshyn said. “Once we see more risk of bigger events, we’ll stop that activity and we’ll be equipping it with a sander. So it happens all through the fall here, we slowly start to get more prepared for that winter season.”
He says they have a couple of full-time sanders which can be put into action if the city received snow before they had switched over the rest of their equipment.
It’s not just the equipment they will get ready for the winter season. Petryshyn says even though his teams is excellent at what they do, staff still go through refresher training after a six-month break from winter work.
“We do that every fall and winter, just talking about the procedures, about safe work practices, all of that, because it’s always good to have those reminders for everyone,” Petryshyn said.
While Petryshyn’s crew will do their jobs clearing the streets and sidewalks this winter, he says residents can also help out by taking their time and giving the public works vehicles the room they need to operate.
“It’s leaving that room in between vehicles, slowing down, the kind of stuff that all helps our community as we deal with winter weather,” Petryshyn said. “The same for our staff, when you see them out and about give them lots of room. They’re operating graders and sanders, big pieces of equipment in adverse conditions. If you can give them lots of room to do their work, that just makes it safer for both them and the residents.”
While the city gets their machines ready for winter, Curtis Lamb, owner of Redcliff Home Hardware, says they’ve already seen people coming in to get gear for the winter, especially their STIHL products.
“Whether it be purchasing new units, leaf blowers you’re able to use them as snowblowers as well, backpack blowers are starting to move already,” Lamb said. “And all the consumables that go along with the two-stroke equipment, the premix fuel and the two-cycle oil.”
He says as a store they put in their order for winter gear and products with the Home Hardware company during the spring so they can gauge what is needed across the country and so they are prepared with their warehouse stocked.
Lamb says they are sitting on quite a bit of shovels from last winter. He says people will rush to get their snow brushes or sidewalk salt once the snow starts to stick or surfaces get slick. He urges them to be prepared before that snow comes and the cold settles.
“None of us enjoy the cold weather, so it’s just a little bit better if you’re prepared and you have things so you don’t need to you know rush out and change tires or rush out to get shovels or RV antifreeze, anything like that. It’s better to have it ready to go,” Lamb said.
