It may be early in the fall, but winter conditions could be just around the corner. That is why workers are gathered at the Regional Public Safety Training Center in Reno. The Northern Nevada Regional Snow Workshop is intended to prepare workers, from multiple agencies, for what could be a heavy winter.
"Every year, we prepare as if we're going to get a large amount of precipitation," Marnell Heinz, Maintenance & Operations Manager for Reno Public Works said. "So, we are ready and we can keep the roads safe for the traveling public."
About 100 people are attending the two-day workshop. There is plenty of classroom time, along with timed exercises that include putting chains on their trucks and driving plows and loaders through an obstacle course, made of cones.
"Each time you touch a cone, I guess they consider it some sort of damage," Troy Teixeira, plow driver for the City of Reno said.
Teixeira has been driving plows for ten years. He says these workshops are valuable for many reasons, including bringing NDOT, Washoe County, Reno, Sparks, and Reno-Tahoe International Airport workers together.
"You can kind of bounce ideas off each other and find ways to do your job more efficiently," Teixeira said.
Those agencies have an interlocal agreement. They all work together when a large snow event happens.
"To get us all together at the same time, share skills, knowledge, experience, is going to make us that much more efficient when we're delivering service to the public," Adam Searcy, Washoe County Road Operations Superintendent said.
"If we do go to a really heavy snowstorm, we're able to work together and we're all coordinated and we know what we need to do," Heinz said.
The event is a refresher course for some of the long-time employees but it's a learning experience for many of the new workers. A moderate amount of turnover means there are some less-experienced employees.
"We're trying to pass down some of the wisdom and experience that does still exist on our crews, make sure our entire team is ready to go," Searcy said.
Vendors are also on-hand, showing off the latest and greatest equipment and technology for snow removal.
Snow removal workers are preparing for a wet winter, hoping El Nino blesses the area with some extra snow. That snow has been largely absent for the last four years. Teixeira says that may have left some equipment operators a little rusty.
"Definitely lackluster, for sure," Teixeira said. "The trucks still get operated on a daily basis but you don't get out with trucks with the plow blades on them, throwing salt and sand or actually moving snow."
Officials say the workshop is also a reminder for the drivers. They say now is a good time to prepare your car for winter by making sure it has good tires, antifreeze, and windshield wiper fluid.
