Seekonk vs. 2013 Blizzard: Good, But Could Be Better

How well did the town do with the Blizzard of 2013?

Good overall, but improvement is needed in certain areas, according to the Seekonk Board of Selectmen, which met with public safety officials Wednesday night.

"I thought our people did a great job," said Seekonk Fire Chief Alan Jack. "I think we're getting better at it, but I think we have a long way to go. But we're very proud."

Jack said emergency calls went through the roof as the dispatcher for the fire department alone dealt with more than 70 calls during the storm.

Department of Public Works Superintendent Robert Lamoureux said his department aided in emergency response calls to clear the roads.

"If there was an emergency call, we responded with vehicles in the area which also took away form our [regular] snow plow efforts," he said.

Fire Capt. Michael Healy said fire officials depended heavily on the DPW for road access during the storm.

"Overall, I think it went well," he said. "We did rely heavily on the DPW people to assist us in getting to emergencies. [For one call] they took two vehicles out for over an hour from the highway to help us, and to help the citizens of this town."

Lamoureux said challenges for clearing the roads were due to limited manpower, equipment failure and the number of available vendors. 

"Trucks break down," he said. "Several broke down during the storm. We had five plows go down during the storm. Some of them came back, some didn't."

Lamoureux said the town did not have enough plows to handle the storm adequately and clear the roads for emergency vehicles. He said the town has 13, and needs a minimum of 20 on hand.

"I'd like to have 24 or 25," he said.

The town has six large dump trucks with plows, which Lamoureux said wasn't adequate for a storm this size. He added that the smaller vehicles had trouble dealing with the quantity of snow and that the pickup truck plows had a very limited amount of use.

"I think a lot of what we observed and heard during this storm was that we ought to look at more big trucks," said town administrator Pam Nolan. "We should have a serious discussion, everything from [vendor] snow plow applications to the budget."

Lamoureux said manpower was a serious issue and they didn't have enough back-up drivers to fill the gaps properly.  

It was a combination of not having enough vendor plows (also 13 trucks) and the short time with which Lamourex had to pull together funds for vendors and other outside help. He said he received authorization from the town at 4 p.m. last Thursday before the storm started.

"Some guys went 40 hours straight," he said. "It's a lot, but it's also a necessity. We need more backup drivers. That would be helpful."