Fighting the elements: A report from the battlefield

by Jon Stemmle

hile most of us were curled up on the couch New Year's Day watching college football on T V and the snow fall outside, members of Campus Facilities' Landscape Services were waging their annual war against the elements.

Whether it's a one- or 10-inch snowfall, occurring at 3 in the morning or 3 in the afternoon, the 40 men and women of Landscape Services' snow crew are prepared for the worst. They are the front line of MU's defense in the battle with snow.

Leading this struggle is a triumvirate of battle-scarred, snow-removal veterans with nearly 75 years of combined experience. Tom Flood, superintendent of Landscape Services, teams with his supervisors, Hugh Barnes and Charles Paxton, to devise the best plan of attack in each given storm.

Parking garages hold a special challenge to Landscape Services crews. Snow must be dumped from the roof, over the side and onto a pre-planned dump site below. While the Bobcat and tractor dump the snow, another person works below keeping pedestrians away from the dump site.

"Planning for winter actually begins during the summer,'' said Flood, a 10-year MU veteran who earned his snow-removal stripes in Colorado. "That's when we begin storing salt and calcium chloride and doing our equipment checks. We prepare for the average 6-to-8 inch snow, or ice storm, not for the storm of the decade. It's only when we get an inordinate amount of snow or a severe ice storm that problems can occur."

Scouting mission

While most people watch the Weather Channel or listen to the radio to check the local forecast for snow, Landscape Services has its own source — the Weather-or-Not Forecasting Service.

Landscape Services contracts with this service for four months each winter. Their 24-hour-a-day forecasting provides Flood, Barnes and Paxton with the earliest-possible warning of a winter storm. This service reduces expenses of false storm alarms and, for the real thing, allows extra time for snow crew members to reach the university before road conditions become problematic.

The university Police also call Flood when road conditions warrant attention.

Unfortunately, even an advance warning doesn't always mean an easy trip into Columbia.

"We have some people who sleep here because they live out of town,'' Flood said. "In the 19-inch snow of 1995, we had several people who could not make it in. After the first 12 hours we needed everyone we could get for relief work, so we went around and picked up people. Even then some of us worked 30 straight hours. We treat snow removal as an emergency situation. It's a life-safety issue and it's part of our job to respond."

The first wave

Not every storm warrants a full, 40-person crew. A 2-inch snow may cause drivers discomfort, but, in most cases, it's an easy situation for Landscape Services.

For any snowfall, however, certain strategies are implemented. The first wave begins with two salt trucks which, during most of the cleanup, are busy spreading salt. At the same time, another group runs sidewalk plows at eight priority assignments. Still other members of the crew are busily shoveling steps and ramps and plowing campus roads and drives.

"Streets really are primarily the city's responsibility, but if they need help we respond," Flood said. "We put a lot of material down on city streets on campus. In big storms like the one this year, we always help out."

The snow crew works typically in 12-hour shifts if school is in session. During January's storm, however, they worked normal eight-hour days. Even with the campus virtually empty of students, Flood estimates the week's snow removal took more than 300 hours and cost $56,000 in labor and equipment.

Time for reinforcements

Once major arteries, such as Maryland Avenue and Hitt Street are open through campus, secondary operations begin. Building Services' crews clear entrances to buildings and Landscape Services crews begin clearing side streets on campus.

When snowfall exceeds three inches or there is a significant buildup of ice, MU's Parking and Transportation Services calls on Landscape Services to clear campus parking spaces. While most people can relate to shoveling a driveway, the snow removal force has some 20,000 parking spaces to clear, and must also remove snow from the top decks of parking structures.

Along with parking lots, steps and entrances to campus buildings must be cleared. If a storm hits during a workday, on-duty Building Services crews use snow shovels, ice chippers and ice melt to clean these areas. If a heavy snow begins in the evening supervisors and extra personnel are brought in to help.

"Three employees from each team are on call, so 27 people are expected to come in,'' said Julia Curry, director of Building Services. "Once we get the call from Landscape Services, the on-call supervisor handles coordination, unless it happens during the day. For this past storm, we were still cleaning areas through the end of the week."

Assessing the damage

Flood and Barnes maintain that no two storms are ever alike, which forces the Landscape Services crews to handle each winter storm in a different way. In Flood's 10 years with Campus Facilities, he's seen two of the six worst storms in Columbia's history.

Regardless of the storm, the situation, or the time of the year, Barnes finds that every snow cleanup has one thing in common.

"It's a never-ending job until Mother Nature comes and melts it all away."