Lower Burrell officials were more prepared for Sunday’s snowstorm than any other event in the past 12 years, according to Mayor Chris Fabry.
The preparedness can be attributed to city officials’ participation in a community risk reduction course in late November, he said.
The course saw city officials from public safety, city hall, public works and the school district take part in training organized by the state’s Office of the Fire Commissioner. The free training spanned two Saturdays.
Lessons learned there were put into practice when the region’s largest snowfall in more than a decade dumped a foot or more of snow across the region Sunday.
The relentless snowfall had towns throughout the Alle-Kiski Valley and beyond battling — often unsuccessfully — in an attempt to stay ahead of road conditions.
Allegheny County impact
There were 32 disaster declarations covering 35 municipalities across Allegheny County, according to Kasey Reigner, a public information officer for the county.
Emergency Services Chief Matthew Brown said the emergency declarations were spurred by salt shortages, staffing struggles or plowing problems.
The county on Monday afternoon issued its own emergency declaration. Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato said it would enable the county to immediately deploy all available resources, hire temporary workers, rent equipment and purchase supplies.
The low temperatures, heavy snow and icy roads, Innamorato said in her emergency declaration, “pose a serious threat to the health, safety and welfare of residents and may challenge local and county emergency response capabilities.”
Brown reported “no major surges of 911 calls” during the storm.
“It appears most people are heeding the warning of staying off the roads, staying home,” he told reporters during a virtual press briefing Monday morning.
The county has deployed 26 plows to remove snow from 357 miles of county-maintained roads, Public Works Director Stephen Shanley said. No major crashes were reported on county roads, he said.
Brown urged people to continue to avoid driving if possible. He also encouraged people to check on neighbors and be cognizant of the weather when shoveling snow in frigid temperatures. Exposed skin could be susceptible to frostbite in less than 30 minutes, he cautioned.
Harrison road closure
Harrison police Chief Brian Turack said his department is frequently called to Burtner Road for motorist assists and hazardous condition calls during serious weather events. The road was closed for much of Sunday and part of Monday.
“Burtner Road has always been a challenge,” he said. “Officers make a determination as to whether or not a roadway should be shut down in the interest of public safety. These decisions are made to prevent vehicles from becoming disabled and to reduce the risk of injury to motorists.”
Volunteer fire departments help put up barricades there Sunday, as the road was too treacherous to pass.
Pittsburgh problems
Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor on Monday declared a state of emergency as the city struggled to clear its streets with dozens of snowplows out of commission.
The declarations allows outside crews to help Pittsburgh treat roads that remain blanketed in a thick layer of snow. O’Connor said 50 vehicles from outside contractors would be plowing and hauling snow overnight into Tuesday. They were joining 35 city vehicles that also were operating overnight.
“Safety’s a priority,” O’Connor said during a press conference Downtown from the City-County Building. “That’s the reason we’re doing this. This is about the safety of the residents of the city of Pittsburgh.”
O’Connor said the city’s crews were working around-the-clock and “doing their very best,” but, when 37 trucks broke down overnight, officials had no choice but to call in reinforcements.
“We were doing a very good job until we lost a lot of our equipment,” he said.
The city started the storm with 95 plows and salt trucks on hand, the mayor said. The city’s maintenance garage was staying open 24 hours a day to work on getting the trucks out of service back on the roads.
City officials have frequently raised concerns about the state of the aging vehicle fleet, which is prone to breakdowns that often require costly repairs.
Lower Burrell’s preparation
“For the first time ever, we had a prep meeting between the city, public works, police and fire departments, EMTs, and the school district,” Fabry said.
“We’re more prepared because it got us thinking of all the moving parts in the city,” said Fred Lukac, Lower Burrell’s emergency management coordinator. “As simple as it is, it’s important.
“It played a role in us being as prepared as we were.”
Lukac called a meeting Friday among city staff, police, fire and EMS to prepare for the storm. Discussion from that meeting led to Superintendent Shannon Wagner securing Bon Air Elementary as a shelter in the event of a disaster, Fabry said.
The meeting reviewed plans for plowing, ambulance access to homes, rationale and meaning behind declaring a state of emergency, where people would be housed if things went south and points of contact, Fabry said. That was the first prep meeting for a snowstorm that city officials have ever had, he added.
“Communication lines are open like never before,” Fabry said. “Response times were faster because people knew who was out and who to call.”
Another positive, Lukac said, was getting street crews and the ambulance service on the same page to help emergency vehicles get to their destinations in the event of an emergency.
“As simple as it seems, maybe that’s what we miss the most,” Lukac said. “Not that the street crew wasn’t there in the past, but I don’t think they were ever alerted directly.”
No major incidents were reported in the city, Lukac said.
Lower Burrell street crews “did an unbelievable job,” Fabry said, and worked from 3 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. They were back at it at 5 a.m. Monday.
Fabry declared a state of emergency in the city, which included restricting nonessential travel. That was lifted at 7 a.m. Monday, with a strong request to not leave before noon.
Fabry provided updates via his Facebook page, and officials stayed in contact throughout the day.
“I think residents often feel left in the dark with things like this, and I didn’t want that to be the case,” Fabry said. “I wanted them to know what was happening at all times and why we were doing what we were doing.”
Lower Burrell’s communication was never poor in the past, Lukac said, but the state training and getting all parties on the same page was a benefit during the snowstorm.
“We made the best out of a bad situation,” Lukac said.