They arrived in the middle of the night, a steel cavalry of about 40 Boston area plowmen answering the call to dig out our nation’s capital from this month’s record-setting blizzard. And after a week of nonstop work, they are being hailed as heroes.
An embassy official from South Africa, grateful for getting plowed out, handed one Boston driver a $400 bottle of his country’s wine. Residents are inviting drivers inside for snacks or much-needed bathroom breaks. Television crews have chronicled the plowmen’s labors, and earlier this week, the Washington Post plastered Boston’s crews on its Metro page.
“All we keep hearing is, ‘The boys from Boston came and bailed us out,’ ’’ said Louis Barretto, owner of L&L Services, a Malden excavation and snow removal company that answered the call for help from transportation officials in Washington.
“I can’t really fully explain all [the attention] and do it justice,’’ he said. “I don’t want it to end.’’
Of course, this is not a charitable operation. The crews are getting paid by the hour for each piece of equipment, with rates that vary by piece, from $100 per hour for the smallest vehicles to $200 per hour for big front-end loaders. Running that many trucks day and night amounts to tens of thousands of dollars each day for each company, they said.
But the real enticement, said Jessica French of W.L. French Jr. Trucking, was the once-in-a-lifetime challenge of plowing out the nation’s capital.
“We’re snowed under with our own work, but there wasn’t even a thought when the call came,’’ she said. “It was like, ‘We’re on this.’ ’’
The Washington area was walloped with back-to-back storms that deposited nearly 40 inches of snow on the ground between Feb. 5 and Feb. 9.
With so much snow, the capital’s plowing crews needed help, so they put out the word to out-of-state contractors. On Feb. 11, a team of about 40 Boston area drivers from Barretto’s company, W.L. French Jr. Trucking Co. of North Billerica, and Pellagrino Trucking and Colucciello Inc. of Tewksbury dropped everything.
Jumping into their dump trucks, with a dozen front-end loaders and sidewalk Bobcats in tow, they barreled down to Washington, arriving around midnight Friday. Since then, they have put their equipment and Yankee plowing know-how to use working for the District of Columbia’s Transportation Department, clearing snow everywhere from housing projects to schools to the sidewalks of Capitol Hill.
“We’re right here, under the monuments and the White House, and we’re from Boston,’’ said Bill French Jr., co-owner of W.L. French Jr. Trucking. “I’m looking to my left, and the Capitol is 500 feet away from me. It’s an amazing experience.’’
Gloria Jeff, a top official in Washington’s Transportation Department, said Boston’s crews have been a great boost to her overburdened staff. They have done everything, she said, from nimbly moving snow from Georgetown’s narrow streets to helping senior citizens shovel out driveways, she said.Continued...
“They have come down with an enthusiastic attitude, a willingness to work however many hours was necessary to get the job done, and they’ve been willing to take on whatever needed to be taken on,’’ she said, adding that they have given the city of Boston “more than a good name.’’
Boston’s plowmen are expected to remain in the capital for a few more days, sleeping in shifts at a Maryland Holiday Inn. Streets remain buried, and many of the area’s major thoroughfares have just half of their lanes open to traffic, drivers said. The long hours have been exhausting, and traveling around an unfamiliar city, especially one that’s still under so much snow - Washington broke all its records dating back to the 18th century - has been difficult.
They have not seen their wives and girlfriends in a week and have missed school vacation activities with their children.
“I made sure my wife got flowers and a card on Valentine’s Day so I wouldn’t be in the doghouse; I’ll see if that worked when I get home,’’ joked Scott O’Malley, a plowman from Salem who has worked 80 hours in the past six days.
“It is tough calling in every day, not being home every day,’’ O’Malley continued. “My 3-year-old son, Jordan, it’s a little tough for him. But being down here and seeing what these people are going through is something.’’
Snow-removal crews from Illinois, Maine, New Jersey, and neighboring Maryland, along with Boston’s drivers, have been dispatched daily from a parking lot in the shadow of RFK Stadium. But Boston’s contingent, the largest, has probably made the biggest impression.
“They’re good; they’re real good,’’ said George Branyan, the city’s pedestrian program director, who has worked closely with Boston’s drivers. “I’ve seen their skills with the Bobcats. They can maneuver them amazingly well on sidewalks. And the big thing is snow removal. They’ve been doing a lot with front-end loaders and hauling away just mountains of snow. We’d be in deep trouble without them. They’ve been indispensable.’’
Barretto and other drivers, such as John Baker, a veteran of the Blizzard of 1978, said the conditions are not anything they have not seen before.
What is different is the reception and adulation they have received.
“In Boston, yeah, it’s just another day,’’ said Barretto. “With this, we have people out and hugging us saying, ‘Thank you, I can finally get out of my house.’ ’’
Jeff, of Washington’s Transportation Department, said she would hire Boston’s drivers anytime, not that she’s anxious to, of course.
“It’s one of those situations where I really enjoyed working with you, but I never want to see you again,’’ she said.
No one is taking it personally.
© Copyright 2010 Globe Newspaper Company.
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