Storm Preparation Press Conference - 2.22.26

So, we're here today because Fall River is facing another historic snowstorm this evening and into tomorrow's evening. The forecast right now is 18 to 24 inches of heavy, wet snow. It's important that residents do whatever is needed during the daylight hours and prepare to hunker down in their homes during the duration of the storm.

The parking ban goes into effect today at 1:00.

Fall River Government Center and the schools will be closed tomorrow. Trash collection will be delayed a day right now. And I urge all businesses for the safety of their employees, customers, and your business to consider closing during this very, very big storm. We fully understand the parking ban is painful for many of our residents. But in a storm of this size, it is important that everyone obeys the ban and finds

alternative parking for their cars. We need all cars in the city of Fall River to comply with this ban. They're going to be ticketing and towing starting at 1:00.

Having said that, there are some alternative sites available. The Flint municipal lot on Cash Street, the municipal lot on the corner of Columbia and Hunter, Morton Middle School's lot on Hood Street, the Maplewood Park lot up near Maplewood Park, and the DCR parking lot behind the pool at Lafayette. The former Dery High School where the old auditorium is on Ray Street is also available along with the

Talbert Middle School. Anyone parking in a school must be out by 5:00 the night before school resumes resumes the next day because we need those parking spots.

As mayor, I'm also signing a declaration of a city emergency in Fall River and we're putting in place a driving ban except for essential personnel starting at midnight tonight through 12:00 on Monday. This will allow our emergency vehicles and our plowing operators to work with minimal disruption. We need everyone to stay off the roads. So, do your shopping and your running around now and then prepare to stay in.

Residents are also reminded of the following. Utilize your driveway and consider sharing off- streetet parking with your neighbors. And it's also the responsibility of each homeowner to clean the walks in front of their property. Do not do not do not throw the snow back in the street. That is a findable offense and it's going to limit our ability to move this stuff around.

If there's a hydrant located near your property, please ensure it's cleared so that our emergency people can get in there in case a hydrant is needed. And if you're willing to volunteer to help shovel some people out, contact EA Soua at far rivermma.gov. She has a list of people looking for support and some people that want to also do it. We thank them upfront.

Please remember to check on your family and friends and elderly neighbors who may live alone and uh may need some support during this big storm. Also, in the event of a significant power outage, our emergency management agency will open a temporary shelter for our residents at the Cus Middle School at 52 Globe Mills Avenue. Our DCM division, which we'll talk in a little bit, has

been pre-treating roads for the last 24 hours, and they will have available all pieces on the streets. Our sector leaders are out right now addressing problem areas that may need assistance with snow during the storm and the removal tomorrow.

Please call the following numbers if you have any concerns. The mayor off mayor's office at 508-324-2600, our traffic department uh 508 324-2577 or 508-207-2584.

You can also call the DPW at 508-324-2762.

Medical personnel needing essential rides. I just talked to Billy Burns with South Coast. They're making plans right now, but you can call ahead to um our EMS division and Beth Fence. We'll be taking calls at 508-9653675 throughout the storm. I cannot stress enough, do your errands now. Get home, park your car where it's allowed, and enjoy the storm to the best of your ability because it is not going anywhere

for at least 24 hours, it sounds like, and a lot of places are going to be closed. But we need your help and we need your support. And with that, I will turn it over to our chief of police, uh, Chief Kelly Fado.

Hello.

Mayor Coogan uh touched on uh pretty much everything that needs to be known at this time. I just want to reiterate the fact that the for police department will be actively tagging and towing effective 100 p.m. today. We'll also be enforcing all city ordinance regarding snow removal, throwing snow inside uh onto the roadways, driving. You will be stopped. um you'll have to prove that

you're an essential worker and uh you'll be dealt with at that point. It is imperative for the safety of all the first responders, for the uh plow operators that we adhere to what's asked of you. Um another point that I'd like to make is to uh when it's possible to shovel your sidewalks and your stairways. Uh numerous times we have many um rescue personnel, fire personnel, and police officers that are

hurt due to trying to get to an emergency call and they're slipping on stairways, they're slipping on the um sidewalks. So, just to reiterate, 100 p.m. today we will start tagging and towing. We will continue that all through the night. We have a uh numerous crews going to be out there dedicated just specifically for that. Um if you have any questions or if your car does get towed and you need to

call, you can call the regular dispatch number 508-6768511 and they'll be able to tell you where your uh vehicle was towed. With that, I'm going to turn it over to the fire department. Chief Johnson.

Chief Johnson.

Uh good morning. My [clears throat] name is District Chief Matt Johnson. I'm one of the shift commanders that's on duty today. Um from the side of the fire department, we've uh the chief has approved significant staffing increases for the next two days. Uh we've added extra manpower on every apparatus.

Additionally, [clears throat] we've added two trucks which will supplement our manpower and our activities also uh to assist EMS if they need us. Uh we've done this in the past and it's worked out pretty well. So, the chief was good enough to approve that. So, we've beefed up manpower across the board. Um, just to reiterate what the chief said and what the mayor said, if possible,

[clears throat] if you can shovel out hydrants, that would be extremely uh uh beneficial to us. When we get to a scene, if we do have a working fire or or a need to tie into a hydrant that's buried, that can delay us and uh cause significant problems for us, although we will overcome them. Um, just please don't park it next to the corners uh or block any hydrants. It'll make our job a

lot easier. Um, I think that's basically it from our sir. Sure.

Beth EMS Chief Beth F.

So, I would like to reiterate that um we will be picking up nursing staff and physicians if they need uh transportation um to work. Um, we may have to drop you off a little early. We will pick you up a little early or you get may get dropped off a little bit late. But the sooner you can schedule, if you feel you're going to need transportation needs, we're going to do kind of the

ride share concept. So, we'll go from town to town picking up people and dropping them off the best we can. Um, for residents, I'd like to say make sure that your cell phones are charged. Make sure if you have portable O2 tanks that are chargeable, make sure that you do your best to make sure they're charged so that if we lose power that you have the ability to make sure that you have

oxygen throughout the emergency. We are fully staffed. We have two extra ambulances on the road for today and we will do our best to accommodate everybody's emergency needs. But there are it would be helpful if you could um preemptively just make sure that you have the ability to call 911. Make sure your phone is charged and make sure your oxygen portable oxygen tanks are fully

charged at this time and we're around if you need us. But we will um if try again to reiterate not to park too close to the corners and um for nursing and hospital staff, if you know you feel like you're going to need a ride now, um call that number. So that way logistically we make sure that we have enough personnel to make sure that everybody can get to their destination on time. Thank you.

Emergency medical Rick Aguar.

I'm the uh EMA director for the city. So if we open up the shelter, um it's important that you bring all your essential medications. Um once again, if you're on oxygen, that's going to be important. If we have a citywide power outage, it'll be at CU school, as the mayor mentioned. Um we already have the trailer there to facilitate the CS. Um if you if we have an evacuation in your

particular area um or if you have to evacuate the power lines down whatever it may be um you can contact the mayor's office. Um we'll pull the the plug on the trailer on the shelter and we'll get everything set up at the cut school.

What's very important if you have children to going to go to the shelter bring a centralized for the kids um and all your medications. That's very important if you're going to be there long term. Bring a change of clothing just in case it's a longterm um incident. We hope not, but uh you never know. It looks like the uh it's going to be heavy snow. We may have power lines down and trees down.

Thank you.

Be safe everyone.

Now, a few a few words from our DCM director, Billy Sutton.

Hello. All we would just like to ask if everybody can just adhere to the parking ban just to try to make our jobs a little easier. Just adhere to the parking ban. Try not to park on corners just so we can get out there and do our job. Be safe everybody and if you need anything call us at DPW508-3242762.

Thank you.

Stephanie MacArthur, director of traffic and parking. Um as everyone said um adherence to the parking ban uh extremely important for public safety um and of course public safety of all the residents too close to the corner apparatus EMS cannot make it around those corners.

Parking ban is if the street runs north and south you must park on the west side. If it runs east and west you must park on the north side. In most cases that is opposite side of the fire hydrants. Any questions or concerns please feel free to give us a call. 508 3242577.

Thank you.

I I obviously want to thank everybody for coming down here on short notice, but we've been working on this for most of the week. I want the residents of Far River to know we're facing a very very serious serious storm. And if we work together and work through this storm, we will get to the other side of it. It's snow. It's a lot of snow. It's heavy and wet. and it's going to be some

inconvenience for people including all the people that you see in front of you today, but we'll work together as a team to make sure um we get through this storm. I also at this time want to thank of course uh our partners in the city council today representative represented by uh Andrew Raposa. He came down because uh he wanted to hear what was being said. But but to that end, make

sure you take this extremely serious.

Stay home, stay off the roads, watch where you park, and we will get through this a lot easier with your cooperation.

Thank you everybody. Any any questions?

Uh Mike, mayor, how many um piles you have this storm compared to last storm?

We picked up how many extra pieces?

We have about 81 right now.

81 right now.

We picked up an additional 10.

Additional 10.

Any other questions? All right, guys.

Thank you.