Blog: City Blog

Public Service Snow Plow Driver: 'Team Effort - People Were Definitely Appreciative of Us'

Most of the time, Johnathan Reno mows right-of-ways and trims vegetation in the Public Service Department’s Service Area South.

But during last month’s longest-on-record all-hands-on-deck snowstorm, everyone in Public Service shifted to public-safety snow-removal duties.

And thankfully, Reno is licensed to drive commercial vehicles – so he was out salting and plowing roads during the worst of the storm.

“Some of the guys, they say they’ve never seen anything like this storm,” says Reno, a 9-year Public Service employee. “It was really a team effort. Most of us worked around the clock, for over a week, salting and plowing the roads to get them cleared.

“It was very tiring. You work all day, all night, and you try to get a little rest.”

Johnathan Reno

The City’s 24 trucks equipped to spread brine and salt and to clear snow and ice were driven 17,075 miles in the first 10 days of the storm.

Spreading 3,000 tons of salt on ice-covered streets is not only exhausting – it’s dangerous, too. No one was injured, but 10 salt trucks slid off into ditches.

“People were definitely appreciative of us,” Reno says. “We’d come across cars stuck on the road, and we’d pitch them a little bit of salt, and they’d be on their way.

“We helped out a lot of people. We also helped a fire truck and an ambulance get unstuck.”

Last month wasn’t the first time that Reno has proven to be essential during a storm recovery. He also jumped in last August, when heavy winds and rain knocked down thousands of trees and power lines. Public Service, including Reno, responded to 242 emergency calls for tree removals.

Posted by evreeland On 08 February, 2024 at 7:57 AM