Snow Barn tackles heavy snow, ice

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Zachary Perras
  • 354th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska --  Winter certainly is not over here, and the Iceman Team is definitely no stranger to snow. With the season still in effect, members at Eielson's Snow Barn are working diligently to keep the mission on track.

Tech. Sgt. Orlin Rohde, 354th Civil Engineer Squadron noncommissioned officer in charge of the heavy repair section at the Snow Barn, said with rising temperatures and changing weather patterns, Eielson is bound to see more snow. However, with the snow comes other worries - specifically, the ice buried underneath it all.

"The snow isn't that hard to deal with. We like it when we get snow - it's what we're here for and it's what our equipment are designed for," Rohde said. "The toughest part is when we run into ice and we get a warming effect. It's a lot more painstaking for our equipment and our labor."

With 105 miles of roadway and 2 million square yards of pavement on one of the Air Force's largest airfields, the snow removal team has had an excessive amount to handle with more than 10 inches of snowfall in March alone, said Rohde.

"The Snow Barn runs 24-hour ops from the middle of September until the middle of April," Rohde said. "We run on [three] 8-hour shifts. There's continuously work to be done."

While 47 inches of snow fell last season, this season, which started September 2011, has already seen nearly 60 inches, breaking the 10-year average of roughly 50 inches per season. Between the three areas on base used for snow dumping, tens of thousands of tons of snow has already been cleared.

William Ferenc, 354th CES Snow Barn foreman, said one of the difficult spots to clear at Eielson is near housing due to the mission at the airfield as well as because shift workers cannot enter housing after 10 p.m. Still, Ferenc and Rohde said the snow removal team has been working to balance removal for housing residents.

"If you get 3 or 4 inches of snow, it packs down to not even half an inch," Rohde said. "We try to allow some time to let it build up [before] we go into housing and cut the streets and haul the snow out of there. That snow provides traction, and if we cut it down to bare pavement and it's down to ice, people are sliding all over. It's a catch-22: you want to get the roads clean but you want to leave a little snow on there to provide traction."

Ferenc said only certain equipment is authorized for use on the streets due to airfield equipment being dangerous and hazardous on the streets.

Even so, the goal of the Snow Barn is to have a safe season while providing the service Eielson needs. Because this season has had heavier snowfall than previous ones, Ferenc said he is glad and thankful people have been patient.

As the season comes to a close, the Snow Barn is preparing for breakup, continuing its efforts to help Eielson remain mission-ready.

"Our main goal is to get the planes off the ground ... and provide safe travel for people on base," Rohde said.

For more information regarding snow removal, contact the Snow Barn at 377-1270.