Buffalo (WBEN) -- The equipment is ready to go when the snow begins to pile up.

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, Department of Public Works (DPW) Commissioner Steve Stepniak, and Henry Jackson, director of street cleaning and snow removal, conducted the annual inspection on Tuesday at the DPW garage on Broadway.

The city spent $1.1 million on new snow-fighting equipment, including five plows and three highlifts, Brown said in remarks to the media.  The purchases bring the city's total winter fleet to 72 pieces of equipment, including 56 truck plows and 16 highlift plows.

And, as a result of last year's mild winter, the city has roughly 11,000 tons of salt currently in stock, which is stored at the Broadway Garage and the department's Fuhrmann Boulevard site.

The city's snow-fighting crew consists of 67 truck drivers, equipment operators, and heavy-equipment operators who will clear more than 800 miles of Buffalo roads when the snow starts to accumulate.

As of Nov. 5, 37 drivers make up the first shift; second shift is comprised of 8 operators (covered with 4 hours of overtime on both ends of the shift during a snow event); and the third shift now has eight drivers, up from 22.

In addition, the department is able to call in trained drivers from the Sanitation Department, and if need be, can call upon drivers from other departments, such as employees of Buffalo Parks or Engineering.

The fleet also utilitizes GPS tracking technology, the city said.