FARMINGTON — As local public works crews pre-treated roads for Thursday’s snowstorm, Farmington faced equipment challenges from Tuesday’s icy storm.

Two trucks slid off roads around 2 a.m. Tuesday.

As a driver attempted to treat Cowen Hill Road off Route 27, the truck slid off the road and rolled onto its side. The body was damaged, Philip Hutchins, director of Farmington Public Works, said.

A second truck slid into a ditch on Davis Road, but was not damaged.

At the same time, another truck working in the Titcomb Hill and Mosher Hill area broke down. The bed chain, the mechanical piece that feeds salt and sand out, was ruined, he said.

With three trucks down half the night, the crew was pretty vulnerable, he said.

There were no spare trucks so the crew has been working around the clock to prepare more trucks for the second part of the back-to-back storms, he said.  A snow hauler is being converted and plow gear has been put on the department’s 10-wheelers, he said.

Chief mechanic Jon Alexander worked all night Wednesday to get the damaged truck back in operation for Thursday’s storm. 

As if three trucks down in the middle of the night was not hard enough, recovery of the truck on Cowen Hill Road took about six hours as crew members used the town’s loader to get the vehicle out, he said.  

The long recovery time was needed mostly to gain access to the truck because the hill was so icy, he said.

Hutchins attempted to help on some routes with a pickup truck but found himself sliding down Voter Hill backward, he said. 

“No truck in the department’s fleet could take it on, even though they were equipped with tire chains. It just was not enough,” he said.

Tuesday’s storm also wreaked havoc on sand and salt supplies. 

“We used triple the amount of product — sand and salt — in 12 hours than we usually do on a 24-hour storm,” he said.

Hutchins admitted that the storm also took a toll on the workers. They would much rather push snow than work on icy hills, he said.

When people see a plow truck go by they don’t realize that the large vehicle is harder to control and more dangerous than driving a smaller truck, he said.

In Wilton, Public Works Foreman Dale Roberts said his crew with eight trucks was lucky and had no issues with Tuesday’s storm. They were ready to head out Thursday and stay until the storm ends.

The crew brought six loads of sand to the Town Office on Wednesday for residents to use at home.

Expecting a typical Maine storm on Thursday, Roberts advised motorists to stay home if they did not need to be out.

Farmington pre-treated the main roads and steep hills Thursday morning with salt. 

Drivers can help the crews by not passing the plows because material flies off the wing. They should also stay back, slow down and not crowd the centerline, Hutchins said.

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