Community Corner

Springfield Braces For Snowstorm

DPW expects to work a marathon shift.

Two days of snow means long hours for Springfield's Department of Public Works employees.

"We're looking at working for 20-30 hours straight," DPW foreman Robert Boettcher said.

As of 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 9, the National Weather Service was predicting the coming storm would dump up to a foot of snow on the North East. Snow is expected to start tonight and continue throughout Wednesday, with the majority of the snow falling on Wednesday. Boettcher said the protracted time frame of the storm meant that the 17 employees would be busy clearing roads and walkways for a long stretch of time.

On Tuesday afternoon, public works crew was fueling and loading salt trucks, and readying the Township's five large plows and 10 smaller plows. Because of the volume of snow, they were also equipping dump trucks with plows. Boettcher said the plows would clear the main thoroughfares and then go back over for the through streets.

With the snow expected to fall steadily from 10 p.m. tonight to 6 a.m. Thursday morning, the DPW crew will have to make several passes on the roads. That means long, tired hours for the guys. 

"Every three hours, the guys can come in and have a coffee break," Boettcher said, adding that the workers could sleep in the DPW garage, if they are able to rest around the sound of machinery and among their fellow workers. "We don't want anybody to work around the clock."

Township employees at have been told to prepare for their offices to be closed down tomorrow; Township Administrator Edward Fanning will send out a notice early tomorrow morning. Springfield Library Director Susan Permahos said that the library would be closed if government offices are snowed out.


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