By Derek Cornet

Extreme Cold

Cold spell keeps town employees wary of breakdowns

Feb 11, 2019 | 12:03 PM

Town of La Ronge employees were busy last week dealing with extreme cold weather.

At the airport, Manager Jim Burr said staff are taking it easy with the equipment and have only been using machinery when absolutely necessary. He said when the temperatures gets so cold, it’s hard on hydraulics and increases the chances of a breakdown. But, if there’s maintenance to do on the airfield, Burr noted it has to be done because the airport needs to remain open.

“It’s just a matter of juggling priorities and doing our best to do what we need to safely and efficiently,” he said. “For employees, the extreme cold is a concern and we don’t want anyone getting frostbite or worse. We make sure everybody is dressed properly if they do need to be outside. Depending on what the task is, they take breaks to warm up.”

When it gets as cold as it did last week, Burr added there’s also typically less snowfall, which makes it easier to keep the runway, taxiways and aprons clear of snow, ice and frost. While airport staff aren’t in charge of tracking the flights of local air carriers, he stated airplanes were affected as they have been sitting on the aprons longer and heaters are being used to warm the engines prior to takeoff.

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Staff in town have also been concerned about breakdowns due to the cold weather. When the temperature hits -35 Celsius, employees generally don’t work outdoors, but Director of Infrastructure Mike Maggrah stated staff didn’t have a choice last week. In the winter months, he said crews try to balance meeting the expected level of service as they prevent equipment from breaking down.

“It’s been a struggle just to get the equipment out the door,” Maggrah said. “We’re actually making a few changes and we have a few contractors coming out to help, just so when the weather is warm, we can get caught up.”

With construction set to begin on a new $2.3 million public works shop this spring, Maggrah noted the facility will help a lot during the winter because they’ll be able to park more equipment indoors. Last week, crews only used equipment for a few hours each day to prevent breakdowns.

This week Environment Canada isn’t forecasting any temperatures at or below -30 C in the tri-communities with most daytime highs hovering around -20 C without the wind. There will be periods of light snow today and a chance of flurries Tuesday followed by sunny skies until the weekend.

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derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno