Snow Day? It’s Complicated

The MBTA’s closure on Tuesday meant many staff, faculty, and students couldn’t get to BU. Photo by Cydney Scott

Blizzard-like conditions and possibly a foot of snow were predicted. Meteorologists warned drivers of slippery roads, and there was a threat that MBTA service would be disrupted or canceled. The Beanpot championship was pushed out two weeks. Boston’s mayor closed public schools for the next two days. These prospects weighed heavily on BU administrators as they dialed into a conference call on Sunday night, two hours before 23.1 inches of snow would disrupt two days of work and classes, bringing the total University closures this winter to two Mondays, two Tuesdays, and one Wednesday.

Such conference calls have been a lot more frequent than usual this winter. Boston has already received more than 76.5 inches of snow to date, 31 inches more than we normally see in an entire winter. And with six weeks of the season left, we can almost guarantee more snow to come.

When a major storm is imminent, President Robert A. Brown wants the decision to cancel be made as early as possible, so working parents can arrange for child care, says Peter Fiedler (COM’77), BU’s vice president for administrative services. But the decision is rarely simple, as it affects 33,421 students and 9,854 employees (BU is Boston’s fourth largest employer). The University administration has to make the call about whether to cancel classes for a day, delay the start of classes, or cancel classes after a certain hour. It needs to decide also whether to close only the Charles River Campus or both the Charles River Campus and the Medical Campus.

The decision to close or to delay is based largely on public safety, says Fiedler, as well on the availability of public transportation, the condition of campus parking lots, streets, and sidewalks, and what local and state officials are requesting of employers.

Sustainability@BU reports that 52 percent of BU employees rely on the MBTA, shuttles, or bikes. If the mayor imposes a parking ban or the MBTA is shut down, both of which occurred yesterday, many staff and faculty can’t get to work.

Fiedler compares closing the BU campus to shuttering a small city, with many independent “operational components” to consider. “Will students be fed? What about scheduled events such as lectures, performance, campus tours, athletic competition? These all have to be taken into consideration,” he says.

The decision is based on information from several people, including Jean Morrison, University provost and chief academic officer, Scott Paré, BU deputy director of public safety and deputy police chief, Craig Hill, associate vice president of auxiliary services, Steve Morash, director of BU Emergency Response Planning, and Karen Antman, provost of the Medical Campus and dean of the School of Medicine. They each take a turn explaining how their respective campuses and departments will be impacted by cancellation, and what preparations have been made.

They consider the latest updates from such state agencies as the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, and what action, if any, Governor Charlie Baker and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh have taken. “If there’s a driving ban, a parking ban, or the MBTA is having major problems, we defer to those decisions and don’t try to throw a wrench into things,” says Fiedler, who is one of the leaders on the calls. “But it’s a tricky situation.”

He says the group also considers what public schools in cities and towns like Boston, Brookline, and Newton are doing, because if they close, many faculty and staff would need to make arrangements for their children. BU may also talk with other Boston area colleges about their plans.

In some cases, as on Monday, February 1, the Charles River Campus will close but the Medical Campus will not, a call that prompted many of the 91 comments left on the BU Today story announcing the news.

The reason the Medical Campus stays open even when the Charles River Campus closes is because “a medical campus is a 24/7 operation,” says Antman, whose campus includes not only the School of Medicine, but the Goldman School of Dental Medicine, and the School of Public Health.

Other medical campuses, like Tufts’ and Harvard’s, usually remain open under similar conditions for the same reasons. “The Medical Campus generally remains open unless the governor imposes a travel ban, the MBTA shuts down, or conditions are such that the safety of our patients, students, faculty, and staff is at risk,” Antman says. “We very much appreciate the campus’ dedication and service, particularly under the recent trying weather conditions.”

During last Monday’s storm, the Boston Medical Center communications office sent out a note to Boston Medical Center staff thanking them for their hard work this winter, and letting them know that during the storm, the hospital would have showers and beds available and extra food and coffee for employees who made the trek in.

One thing a University closure does not affect is Dining Services, which aims to have at least the three residential dining facilities fully operational. This goal has been achieved every storm so far, says Barbara Laverdiere, Dining Services director. Her department works with vendors before a storm to confirm that BU will be a “priority delivery stop, given the large number of guests we need to feed every day,” she says. “For any type of natural disaster or storm, we keep three days of inventory on hand. We also keep three days of paper supplies on hand should we lose power and not be able to wash dishes.” Every effort is also made to keep Starbucks, Buick Street Market, and City Convenience stores open so students can buy snacks and drinks.

Because most of the Dining Services team relies on public transportation, there have been times when managers have driven employees to and from work, Laverdiere says. They also sometimes hire taxis or car services to take late night employees home. “On two occasions we have put a large number of employees in hotels within walking distance of campus to avoid having anyone on the roads,” she says. “For those who live within walking distance, they have simply bundled up and headed out on foot, often trekking several miles.”

Where does all the snow go?

Fiedler is proud that BU is deemed a “StormReady” University by the National Weather Service, a designation earned by institutions with a comprehensive weather readiness plan in place.

A large part of that plan is orchestrated by Bill Walter, Facilities Management & Planning assistant vice president for operations and services. Walter says he begins to prepare mentally for the next Boston winter while his team is laying down mulch in the spring.

He points out that unlike many homeowners, Facilities Management & Planning doesn’t have the option of waiting until a storm ends to begin clearing snow. Even when classes aren’t held, there are 12,000 students living on campus with “nowhere else to go,” he says, so his team needs to stay ahead of a storm. They are tasked with plowing, sanding, and salting streets and parking lots and shoveling sidewalks, stairs, and even athletic fields throughout BU’s 133 acres of campus.

Most of the snow removal falls to a crew of more than 400, who are designated essential personnel—employees who must report even if the University closes. In the case of last week’s storm, these workers stayed at BU for a continuous 48 hours, working through the night in shifts, with breaks for meals, hot coffee, and sleep.

They rely on a fleet of four plow trucks, five pickup trucks, two sander trucks, three tracked plow/snowblower combination trucks, three pay loaders, and two bombardier tracked sidewalk plows. Oh, and 100 snowblowers. At least 3,000 bags of magnesium chloride and 250 tons of rock salt were used during last week’s storm alone, with eco-friendly materials used near lawns and trees.

Trucking manager Bob O’Toole and manager of grounds Ray Bourgeois, who is also in charge of the masonry shop, oversee the heavy equipment and the plowing operations. Custodial operations director Carlos Vazquez manages the custodians who operate the snowblowers, power brushes, and shovels. The Medical Campus has its own grounds crew, run by David Flynn, Facilities Management & Planning assistant vice president for construction services, whose crew is also responsible for clearing Boston Medical Center.

Roofs are checked regularly and shoveled to prevent ice damming and water damage when the snow melts. Workers are also deployed on “icicle watch,” and carefully take them down if they seem to be at risk of falling.

In the video above, the Trecan 60-PD Snowmelter at work; it melts 60 tons of snow per hour. Video by Bill Walter

On many recent days, snow has been piled high on Harry Agganis Way near Nickerson Field, where a new, massive machine called the Trecan 60-PD Snowmelter can melt 60 tons of snow per hour. The snow is dumped into the machine by pay loaders, and the melted water flows into nearby drains. In years past, snow was piled up at staging sites across campus and eventually carted away to snow farms around Massachusetts.

While all this is going on outside, mechanics are on hand 24 hours a day to make repairs. New pieces of equipment are added to the snow fleet regularly. Other facilities and grounds workers ensure that the University runs properly and that the electricity and heat in buildings are working (like the challenge they faced last Thursday, when Myles Standish Hall and Annex lost power).

In general, Walter says, the main residents of the BU campus are appreciative of the monumental effort required to clear the campus of snow. He relates a random act of kindness during last week’s blizzard that meant a lot to his team: some workers were taking a hot chocolate break in one of the dining halls when several students offered high-fives to thank them for their work.

And now, on to the next storm.