Snow Route, Ambulance Access, and a Driveway Request
At 11:00 p.m. a snow emergency is declared, and you are assigned to a salt spreader on a route that includes several steep side streets and a dead-end block where cars are parked on both sides. Six inches of snow have fallen, and more is expected. Dispatch reports that an elderly resident on the dead-end block will need ambulance access within the hour. Your salt hopper is about 30 percent full. As you approach the dead end, a resident comes out and asks you to plow his private driveway, saying he will pay you cash. At the same corner you see a fire hydrant buried by a plow windrow and, on the main road, a bus stop drifted over. Your radio works. The depot has one loader available but is handling several calls, and the dispatcher sounds rushed.
1. What are your clearing priorities on and around this block, and why?
Read the worked answer
The dead-end block with the ambulance need comes first. Clear a path wide enough for an ambulance from the main road to the building entrance and keep the snow storage on one side. Do not bury the hydrant. Salt the intersection and any grade, because a loaded ambulance needs traction. The hydrant and the drifted bus stop come next, then the steep side streets. Report the parked cars that block the plow to dispatch; do not try to move or damage them and do not block them in. The rule is emergency access and main routes before cosmetic clearing, and a buried hydrant is an emergency-access problem even when it is not on your assigned list.
2. How should you respond to the driveway request, and why?
Read the worked answer
Decline politely. Plowing a private driveway with a city truck is unauthorized use of equipment, can damage the driveway or buried utilities, and creates liability for the department. Also decline the cash. Explain that the truck is assigned to a snow route and that private property is not part of it. Offer the city's general information line or 311 for private plowing questions, and keep the interaction short. If the resident becomes hostile, disengage and report it. The same rule applies to private parking lots, even if the owner is a city employee or a friend of the crew.
3. What should you report, to whom, and in what order?
Read the worked answer
Radio dispatch with the blocked dead end, the ambulance need, the buried hydrant, the drifted bus stop, and the salt level. Ask whether the loader can be sent. Give the location clearly and note the time and what you cleared. Keep the channel clear for emergencies and do not leave the route to argue. The ambulance need goes first because it is time-sensitive; the equipment request follows. At the end of the shift, complete the snow-operation log with the same details.