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| February 14, 2019 Shelton Mason County Journal |  |
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Page A-10 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019
Shelton Police
officers and a
a vehicle out of the
snow and slush
Tuesday in front of
Safeway in downtown
Shelton. Journa/ photo
by Gordon Weeks
City, :ounty staff have seen numerous challeng
continued from page A-1 Captain Mike Fiola of the Shelton
Police Department said the depart-
the storm has been hard on his busi- ment has kept its same shift schedule
nesses. Onisko owns two service sta- during the snow.
tions. "We've remained on our same
"I worry about employees driving shift schedule, which is patrol work-
in it," he said of the snow. "I also wor- ing 12-hour days," Fiola said. '-'That
. ry about my wife out there delivering being said, we've had to call in some
mail. The city and county crews are overtime to handle the collisions. Ve-
working very hard and I thank them." hicles, we have a fleet of (Ford) Ex-
Robert Herron, the director for fa- plorers; we have some Explorers, and
cilities management and construction then also have an old fleet of (Ford)
for the Shelton School District, on Crown Victorias. And even with the
Wednesday morning was driving to chains, we were having trouble get-
school construction sites and clearing ting places in the Crown Vics. That's
sidewalks; by the end of the day, he presented a struggle and a challenge
would help determine if school would for us, but the people have done a
again be closed on Thursday. pretty good job of not going on the
"Half of our employee can't make it roads when the: don't need to be,
in," he said. the businesses have been smart :-
But Herron pointed out he lives in they're closing, not risking employees
Angelside, and is perhaps the district lives for adollar and that's much
staffer who lives closest. He said he appreciated."
also benefits from riding tall in a four- Fiola said that everybody seems to
wheel-drive Ford pickup, be content with the fact that the pub-
The Herron household lost power, lic Works crews did a really good job of
for all of five minutes, he said.getting the roads cleared.
"We keep trudging along," he said. "We haven't seen a snowstorm like
Vickie Gonzales, a human resourcethat in a long time, so I think that ev-
specialist for Peninsula Credit Union erybody came together and the job got
in downtown Shelton, said the snow done," Fiola said. "Services are still
has prevented her from visiting other provided, we've got power, we've got
branches, police, we've got fire, so life is good.
"My husband has a roofing com- He recommended that drivers
pany, and that probably speaks for it- take more time on the roads and give
self," she said. themselves more time to get to where
Gonzales added that "our biggest they're going. He also said drivers
issue is it's our granddaughter's first should give more space between vehi-
birthday party this Saturday, so it bet- cles. Finally, if you don't feel safe driv-
ter be cleared up for that." ing, don't drive.
Jeromy Hicks. fire prevention cap-
tain at North Mason Regional Fire
Authority, said first responders ran 73
calls in 48 hours, a record for the fire
authority.
Though it was a challenge, Hicks
said the fire authority had two key fac-
tors working in its favor: crews work-
ing hard to clear roads, and the few
days' notice citizens had to prepare for
the snow storm.
"I think one of the biggest issues
was the snowfall coupled with the
rain caused a lot of tree-down and
powerline-down issues coupled with
the normal calls we run made it dif-
ficult," Hicks said: "Our hats are off
to the road crews and (Public Utility
District) for working their rear ends
off. They did a really good job keeping
the arterial (roads) clear for us, priori-
tizing that, and getting the side roads
cleared off."
Hicks said though one family was
displaced by issues with a roof cav-
ing under the weight of the snow,
residents didn't run into fire hazards
from furnaces or heaters. Though
residents had time to prepare for
this storm, he urged people to plan
ahead for unexpected bad weather.
NMRFA recommends having basic
survival kits with food, water, an ex-
tra supply of medications, bedding,
flashlights and tarps stored in hous-
es and cars.
"I think this was an eye-opening ex-
perience for everybody, including my-
self, of how fast things can get shut-
down," he said.
More information about how to
make an emergency kit is available on
the NMRFA website at www.northma-
sonrfa.com/for-residents/emergency:
preparedness.
Port of Grapeview commissioner
John Anderson said the incl.ement
weather did temporarily affect con-
struction at the port's Fair Harbor
boat launch, where Marine Floats is
installing a new dock. Anderson said
the port's contractor dug the footing
for the gangway last week, but the
weather interrupted pouring the con-
crete. Crews will have to wait for the
snow to clear to continue.
Offices and schools throughout
North Mason temporarily closed this
week. When North Mason School
District officially announced schools
would again be closed Feb. 13, staff
noted, "This is an unusual situation
as we clean up from the biggest snow-
storm in memory. Due to a combina-
tion of current road conditions and
impacted parking lots, there is much
to do to assure students and staff can
return to school safely."
The Port of Allyn also closed its of-
rices Monday and Tuesday. Executive
director Lary Coppola said in a press
release, "Re-opening will be a day-to-
day decision based on the weather.
road conditions and the ability of our
employees to travel safely to their
jobs."
Reporters Michael Heinbach, Dana
Kampa and Gordon Weeks contributed
to this story.
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