Saskatoon services keeping up despite extreme cold weather

[TowZone]

With the extreme cold weather warning in effect for Saskatoon, it’s a busy time of year for many services impacted by the winter.

Tow-truck company Brad’s Towing is seeing one of its busiest weeks of the season.

“It’s more steady this time of year — more calls back to back,” said Brydon Brunsch, a heavy operator with Brad’s Towing.

Given the recent cold, the towing company often receives upwards of 150 calls a day for towing assistance.

“There’s lots of trucks not starting, cars needing boosts, picking up trucks and putting them in shops for mechanics to work on,” Brunsch explained.

The Saskatoon International Airport (Skyxe) is also affected by the cold snap — airport officials are reminding travellers to check flight schedules, though they note arrival and departure times are not expected to be overly impacted.

“It slows down the process whether it’s de-icing, or bridging an aircraft — that might go a little slower than normal,” said Andrew Leeming, operational excellence vice-president at Skyxe.

The City of Saskatoon is encouraging its workers to bundle up and providing warm-up shacks for employees who work outdoors.

“Things take a little longer. Things are a little slower. Staff [need to take] more breaks to warm up,” said Trent Schmidt, manager of the city’s water and waste stream.

The city said no garbage collection or other major services have been cancelled due to weather.

“We have to get out there. The guys are going out there in the bitter cold to repair water-main breaks, [and] get the services restored,” Schmidt said.

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