AUGUSTA, Maine — As Mainers waited for a second snowstorm in less than 24 hours, the state's plow truck drivers, dubbed "snowfighters," were able to get in some extra training time.
Kyle Hall, maintenance and operations director for the Maine Department of Transportation, told us back in December he had about 500 such drivers, and would feel more comfortable around 650.
Thursday, after heavy recruiting, he said he’d been able to get that number up to 595. So far, the mild winter had allowed his teams to work without too much stress, he said. But each storm offers valuable time behind the wheel for new hires.
"The storms have not been large and long," he explained. Those heavy, long storms constantly blanket the state's roads and require round-the-clock attention from Hall's drivers. "Most of our events have been under 24 hours and we’ve been able to cycle our drivers through. [But] it actually detracts a little bit from training our new drivers because they don’t have an opportunity to operate the equipment."
Hall added many of his drivers look forward to storm overtime, where they are able to work slightly longer days. He said he has a system of asking who wants to be released to go home first, and who wants to earn a little extra money.