Snow removal company taking extra steps with parking garage roofs

MUKWONAGO, Wis. — For the second time in two weeks, the Milwaukee area is digging out from a weighty winter event. This comes after the Bayshore parking garage collapsed during a snow event in February. That was when a mix of snow and sleet fell. Thursday night into Friday, heavy and wet snow fell.

“It is gross. It is wet and just really heavy like you don’t want to shovel this if you don’t have to,” said Morgan Ferrari, president of All Seasons Facility Maintenance.

That’s how Ferrari describes the snow she and her company have been moving all night and morning. Her company All Seasons Facility Maintenance is contracted to plow snow at the Metro Market Parking Garage in Shorewood. They will be removing the snow from there tonight to make sure the heavy snow doesn’t stay on the roof. That plan was the same one they used two weeks ago during the sleet/snow storm.

“We hauled everything out and it cleaned up really nice so they had no concerns about the weight,” said Ferrari.

Though no cause of the collapse has been determined, the Glendale Fire Department has said the heavy snow and sleet likely played a role. Ferrari, who does not remove snow for Bayshore, says each client determines if snow is either left on the roof or totally removed from it.

“There is a big fee to it. So you have to have your equipment, you have to haul off. There is a lot of cost to it. So it really depends on the client,” said Ferrari.

She uses an ASV to remove snow from garage roofs. It is about half the weight of a skid steer, which is typically used in snow removal.

She says when it comes to parking garages with open roofs, some places will choose to just move the snow out of parking spots to the edges. She recommended removing it in the long run.

“It is necessary for safety,” said Ferrari.

Along with specialized equipment, it takes a long time to remove snow from a roof. Ferrari expects they will be hauling snow off the Metro Market parking garage here for at least eight hours.

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