Shortage of salt and ice melt has Massachusetts communities scrambling during wintry weather
FITCHBURG - Parts of Massachusetts are dealing with a wintry mix of snow and rain moving in through Thursday morning, with another storm looming this weekend. A shortage of salt could have some communities scraping the bottom of their supplies by the time the weekend comes to an end.
Communities going through salt fast
"We have 15 loads that just arrived yesterday, which will get us easily through tonight's storm," said Fitchburg DPW dispatcher, Michael East. The problem is that there's another snowstorm projected for this weekend, making the turnaround time for a salt delivery tricky. "Saturday into Sunday it's going to be a little more caution as to how much we put down. We don't want to burn through it too quickly."
New England ice melt shortage
Fitchburg is competing with surrounding towns and New Hampshire for ice melt – as we prepare for freezing temperatures to move in. Rocky's Ace Hardware in Fitchburg is down to their last two pallets of salt. Residents are searching high and low for ice melt ahead of the storm.
"We had another brand and as soon as a pallet came in, people were going at it. And we went through 10, 11 pallets within three days," assistant store manager Elizabeth Cox told WBZ-TV. She said there's a regional shortage that's making it tough for hardware stores to stock up on salt. "It's not a town or a store – New England in general is having issues."
The demand, Cox explained, is driven by this rollercoaster of a winter so far.
"It gets warm, everything melts and then all of a sudden overnight temperatures plummet and then we're back to square one, really cold temperatures and people need ice melt," said Cox.
Fitchburg DPW and retail stores are crossing their fingers that a new shipment of salt comes in before the snow does.
