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Fall River committee reviews snow-removal response after Jan. 25–26 storm
Summary
City and public-safety officials told a City Council committee they mobilized roughly 80 plowing units during the Jan. 25–26, 2026 storm, cited equipment and staffing limits, and urged recruiting more private vendors, wider use of brine inserts and clearer vendor pay/insurance terms.
Fall River City’s public works and transportation committee met Feb. 10 to review the city’s response to the Jan. 25–26, 2026 snowstorm and to seek changes to equipment, vendor recruitment and operational plans.
Ken Pacheco, chief operating officer of Fall River Public Schools, told the committee that narrow streets and heavy snowfall forced two school closures and complicated student drop-off and pickup. “We run about a 120 pieces of equipment, as far as buses,” Pacheco said, adding that roughly half the district’s 11,000 students walk to school and that the district used private contractors to get parking lots and play areas cleared so students could return to school.
Al Olivera, director of city operations, said the city fielded about 36 in-house plow pieces (including parks and cemetery assets) and brought in roughly 44 private units for a total near 80 pieces for the storm. Olivera noted a long-term decline in…
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