The Fergus County Sheriff’s Office and Lewistown Public Works have been especially busy this winter keeping roads clear for emergencies.
Aneesa Coomer reports:
The Fergus County Sheriff's Office and other emergency services were busy responding to calls the storm brought in including minor crashes, stranded drivers, and slide-offs.
Fergus County Sheriff Ryan Peterson says, “Usually the biggest problems we have is when the first storm hits, you know, people are still commuting, trying to get home, get to where they got to go to get off the road. Sometimes that storm will catch them. So we had some stranded folks needing to be picked up. We always try to make sure that we've got supplies in our patrol vehicles.”
The Sheriff’s Office recommends keeping blankets, water, and snacks in your vehicle in case you get stuck or stranded until services can reach you. They also work with other services to clear roads so emergency vehicles can get around.
Sheriff Peterson says, “Everybody's out there all night plowing and trying to keep things open. Our emergency services put on extra staffing, making sure we get people to essential areas, so that we can help out the community as best as possible.”
The City of Lewistown Public Works partnered with six outside contractors after the recent winter storm to haul snow and worked through the weekend to make sure roads are clear.
City Manager Holly Phelps says, “We also partner with our first responders, the ambulance, the police and fire, so that if there are emergencies in the middle of the night and it's a major snowstorm, we have crews that by contract are required to be here, get out there and plow very timely for those kind of events.”
Phelps also says that other vehicles that get stuck in the snow can slow down their efforts. They had around 20 reports of stuck vehicles during the most recent storm. Phelps says, “Unfortunately, that slowed us down because, those people, we had to wait until they were unstuck before we could continue our plowing efforts in several locations.”
As the winter weather continues, the city also asks that people move their cars from the sides of residential streets to make plowing more efficient. Phelps explains, “If there's cars that happen to be parked on both sides, it makes it very difficult for the large plows to go into these areas and actually effectively remove the snow if we go in there.”
