Dale Biggerstaff said it was the kind of event that he’s proud to have in his career portfolio — but one he never wants to experience again.
As the public works director for the city of Brentwood, Tenn., Biggerstaff knew that the winter storm was coming three weeks before its arrival on Jan. 24. Initially, he was told that the community could expect a significant snowfall, but as the day approached, he learned it could include serious ice accumulation, which would threaten trees, power lines and public safety.
“We ended up getting 5 to 6 inches of snow, which is a pretty good snow event for us, but the city also documented 8/10 inches of ice,” he said. “The sheer volume of ice made it different from any type of storm we’d had. Trees that could completely shed their foliage stayed in pretty good shape, but anything else didn’t stand a chance.”
Preparing for the aftermath
Located 69 miles north of the Alabama state line in Williamson County, Brentwood is a community of 45,373 that is considered an affluent suburb of Nashville. When it came to disaster preparation, mitigation, cleanup and recovery, Biggerstaff knew that the city’s public works department would be the key. He also knew that most of his crew cannot afford to live in the community that they serve, and many of them have a 45-minute drive to work in the best of conditions. Ice and snow would make the commute impossible. To ensure that all hands were on deck when the storm arrived, Biggerstaff arranged hotel rooms for the crew and stocked up on frozen and easy-to-prepare meals so that the workers could eat between their shifts while all the stores were closed…