Winter is underway, and according to Jeff Toulou, landscape maintenance supervisor, Eastern’s maintenance team is always keeping a steady eye on future weather to prepare for hazardous conditions.

The regular shift for Toulou’s maintenance crew is 6 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., but when it snows significantly, the team shows up at 3:30 a.m. and
works until the job is done, according to Toulou.

“We try to plan ahead,” said Toulou. “We try to watch the weather, and if there’s any chance of snow when it’s already snowed, we plan on 3:30 a.m.” The maintenance crew uses a wide variety of materials and machinery to de-ice campus such as sand, liquid de-icer and granular de-icer. The decision on which de-icing material to use depends on the type of snow or ice on the ground and the weather, according to Toulou.

“It just takes a couple of degrees to change roads to ice,” said Toulou.

The most important areas to clear off on campus are the PUB and parking lots where people walk and drive through a lot, according to Toulou. They maintain some townhouses and apartments near campus as well. All the way to Brewster Hall, which is considered a part of campus.

According to Karen Wichman, director of facilities services, the last time campus shut down because of snowfall was during the 2009-2010 school year. “I’ve seen them close it when there’s four inches of snow,” said Wichman. “I’ve seen them keep it open when there’s 12 inches of snow.”

“Every snowfall’s different,” said Toulou. “It also depends on when it falls.”

Sometimes it is up to students’ professors to cancel classes based on the conditions of the roads, says Wichman. But when the snow or ice becomes too much for maintenance to keep up with, the entire campus will shut down. Sometimes the PUB or the Rec Center will remain open for students who live on campus so they will have something to do and a place to eat.

As for student transportation, when snowfall becomes more intense, alternate snow routes may be available, according to STA’s winter operations which can be found on spokanetransit.com.

Wichman recommends signing up for E-Alert, which is a system that sends texts to students’ phones when classes are cancelled. To sign up for E-Alerts, visit ewu.edu/alerts and create an account.

There’s also an Eastern phone line, (509) 359-SNOW, to keep students informed on the current snow situation.