773d CES snow barn tackles snow and ice

  • Published
  • By Airman Valerie Monroy
  • JBER Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  Though some might consider this year warmer than normal, it's still winter and there are still dangers on the roads.

The personnel of the 773d Civil Engineer Squadron snow barn attack these dangers by keeping the airfield and streets clear of snow and ice.

Beginning in October, the heavy equipment shop transforms into the snow barn and starts their non-stop operations. While most people are sleeping, the snow team is out making the base as safe as possible.

"The heavy equipment shop, or snow barn in the winter, runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week," said Dennis Sessler, 773d CES Horizontal Construction shop foreman. "We work through all the holidays, all the family days and everything. We don't take any days off."

Tech. Sgt. Jeremiah Shelton, with the 773d CES snow barn, said the team's mission is to keep installation runways, airdrome, roads and parking areas clear and safe so Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson personnel can safely execute their missions.

The operators use an array of equipment to complete their job, starting with brooms, plows, blowers and vehicles that apply chemicals to the airfield surface, Sessler said. On the streets they operate graders, loaders, dump trucks and sand trucks.

The shop is always ready to go out to the airfield at a moment's notice, Sessler explained. The operators maintain runway conditions for aircraft that need to take off. The main priority is to make sure aircraft can take off; then they go to the streets, Sessler continued.

With clear and safe runways and roads being mission essential, the 24-hour operations become crucial.

"We always have personnel here," Sessler said. "They could be out at midnight [or] they could be out at two in the morning."

In order to expedite the snow removal operations, people should pick up or remove items and debris around base facilities and parking areas which could impede or damage snow-removal equipment.

Before using unit-owned plows, facility managers must contact the snow barn for instructions on how to plow, snow removal strategies and where to stockpile snow.

To prevent accidents, people should remember to maintain a 75-foot clearance from all snow-removal equipment, yield the right-of-way to snow-removal equipment and slow down and drive according to road conditions.

"People need to have situational awareness when they see snow removal equipment," Sessler said.

Operators have a reason for moving snow or ice in certain directions for storage. When the heavy equipment is going in reverse vehicles should keep their distance because drivers may not always see them. Operators have narrowed fields of vision and with the noise of the heavy equipment they can't always hear everything.

When clearing parking lots, unmoved cars pose many threats. To remove the ice, the heavy equipment operators put a large amount of pressure on the blade, which leaves the tires with less maneuverability.

"Parking lots aren't getting cleaned [and] you still have ice because the cars have not been moved," Sessler said. "If the cars are gone we can come in and clean the parking lot [without] risk or danger of hitting a car."

With cars scattered throughout the parking lot and operators not having total control, accidents are waiting to happen. You can guess what would happen when 60,000 pounds of snow removal equipment runs into a 2,000-pound car.

Upon requesting snow removal operations, facility mangers need to post parking lots as closed.  Parking lots with vehicles left in them may not be cleared of snow to avoid potential accidents.

Personnel going on temporary duty should park in long-term or deployment parking areas and make arrangements to have their vehicles moved as needed throughout the winter.

Another problem is failure to clear snow off sidewalks to the end of the street or concrete, Sessler said. When warm spells come through, the ice melts and then refreezes causing ice buildup along the edges.

"They go out there and throw ice-melt on it and it breaks up the ice," said Sessler. "But instead of shoveling all the broken up ice and getting it off of the concrete, they leave it there."

Ice melt is not a friendly product for concrete, explained Sessler, and it can eventually make a hole in the ground: once the chemical gets inside the hole it just starts eating it away.

For more information regarding snow removal for base roads, facilities and parking lots, call 552-3726.