Road clearing is top priority in Frederick County towns
No major accidents or injuries reported during recordbreaking snowstorm
Towns throughout Frederick County have been busy clearing roads of more than two feet of snow.
Thurmont Police Chief Greg Eyler said the plows are still working to get all the roads clear, and will probably remain in operation until at least Monday.
The police department had a Humvee and two members of the National Guard in town to help with calls for service, he said.
The station got a call from Frederick County's Emergency Management Division after Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) issued a state of emergency on Friday to see if the town wanted aid, which the department accepted because the normal emergency vehicles would not have fared well in over two feet of snow, Eyler said.
The town had no major accidents or emergencies, he added.
Thurmont Commissioner Ronald Terpko said the town got about 27 inches of snow, but the streets are starting to look passable.
Bob DePaola, director of the Walkersville's Public Works Department, didn't give an exact inch count, but said the town has more than two feet of snow. With eight plows, five salt trucks and two or three area farmers who have volunteered their time and their tractors to the cause, the streets are "starting to look pretty good," he said.
Drew Bowen, city administrator for Middletown, said that while many roads in the town are snow packed, they are passable. He continued to urge people to stay indoors while the crews work on clearing the roads better.
Dave Dunn, city administrator for Brunswick, said cleaning crews will continue to operate in 12-hour shifts. They have already cleared all the city's main roads once, and will target the secondary roads today.
Mount Airy Mayor Peter Helt said all of the town's roads had been plowed. "Really, at any time during the storm if I had to get out, our roads were passable," he said.
Mark Moxley, Mount Airy's superintendent of roads, said it takes four hours on average to cover the town's 46 miles of road if the usual 13-man crew is staffing the town's 10 plow trucks.
"They're operating everything," Helt said. "We've got trucks in streets and roads. ... We have plows that can go on all the water equipment, plows on the sewer equipment, plows that go on parks equipment. When you get a major storm like this, everyone comes in."
He said the varied use of the equipment saves the town money. "If you come to work for the town in one of these positions you're told, 'Hey, if there's snow, you're working," Helt said.
Helt estimated that the town received 27 inches of snow, and said though blacktop was starting to show through on his street, he knew some roads that the county plows hadn't been touched yet.
He said he would decide later today if Town Hall will be open on Monday.
Maryland State Police and the Frederick County emergency communications center also report no major incidents.