By Jason Stuart
Ranger-Review Staff Writer
Glendive’s Christmas snowstorm brought a heck of a lot of the white stuff to the area, but fortunately, with one exception, there weren’t too many major accidents, mishaps or issues for local law enforcement that came with it.
The Dawson County Sheriff’s Office went out on five different stranded motorist/citizen assist calls on Christmas night, according to Undersheriff Katie Mills, but nothing too serious.
“Nothing major happened,” Mills said of Christmas Day, noting that the biggest happening of the day was after the Montana Department of Transportation shut down the eastbound lanes of Interstate 94.
“The big thing was all the semis backing up on the road, so the county Road Department opened up the fairgrounds to give them a place to park,” Mills said.
Mills also noted that there were power outages in the Hodges area that caused some concern, given that the roads were impassable and the residents there stuck, but she noted that the Road Department sent a grader out early Monday morning to plow the roads around Hodges so anyone still without power there would have a way out.
Helping out motorists stuck in the deep snow also occupied the Glendive Police Department throughout much of Christmas Day, though again, no major accidents or incidents happened.
“We had a lot of calls for service for people stranded,” said Police Chief Brad Mitchell. “People stuck in the street, stuck in their driveways ... our guys stayed pretty busy.”
Perhaps no one stayed busier, however, than the snow plow operators of the Montana Department of Transportation.
MDT District 4 maintenance superintendent Mike Skillestad noted that between Sunday and Monday, his eight employees of the Glendive Division had piled up 114 hours of overtime trying to stay ahead of the snow.
“They were pretty much going around the clock,” Skillestad said, noting that the feat was more impressive given that every division in the district is down one or two employees who were already out on vacation for the holidays.
“In almost every sector we were at least down one guy and in some places, two, and they did a great job of keeping ahead of it,” Skillestad said. “Actually, it really worked out well.”
Skillestad made the decision to close the eastbound lanes of I-94 at about 3:30 p.m. Sunday after North Dakota officials called him to let them know they were closing the interstate in that state.
He said the road here was actually in good enough condition to remain open, but that becomes moot if North Dakota shuts down their interstate.
The one major accident which happened as a result of the storm happened on Monday on I-94, and involved one of MDT’s snow plows. Skillestad, who witnessed the accident, which happened just outside of Glendive, said that the incident happened within minutes of MDT opening I-94 back open to traffic, which, he said, is not terribly surprising.
“We don’t have any incidents and then, of course, you turn traffic loose and everybody wants to pass the other guy,” he said. “It’s chaos the first 20 minutes or so after the roads open.”
MDT’s biggest, newest plow — a behemoth of a machine — was turning around to make a pass back towards town at about 3:25 Monday when a truck attempted to pass it and clipped the snow blade, resulting in a major accident and serious injury to the driver.
Skillestad said the driver was “going way to fast” and misjudged which lane the plow was in. He said the truck driver “caught the edge of that plow and just ripped that pick-up wide open.”
MDT was at the time displaying a message on its first big roadside messaging board coming into Montana noting that 12 snow plows have been hit by drivers around the state already this winter.
Now that number is 13. Skillestad said it never ceases to amaze him how careless some people can be when driving behind or around snow plows.
“It’s just crazy the risk people will take,” he said.
According to MHP Trooper Ariad Ream, who worked the accident, the driver was from Whitehall, Mont. Ream said on Tuesday that “the last he knew” the injured driver “was OK,” suffering puncture wounds and a broken arm. Ream was unable to provide any other details.
Montana-Dakota Utilities dealt with an incident when an insulator on the transmission line between Wiabux and Hodges went out Sunday afternoon. Crews could not reach the area until later Sunday evening when power was restored to MDU customers, however rural coop customers in that area did not get power until Monday morning.
While MDT, emergency responders and law enforcement officials had their hands full with the snowstorm, on Monday and Tuesday residents could be seen out everywhere shoveling or blowing their driveways and sidewalks, while some of those with bobcats, four-wheelers and other machines equipped with plows helped to clear off some neighborhood streets.
“I think there was a lot of shoveling time spent by everybody,” Mitchell quipped.
Reach Jason Stuart at rrreporter@rangerreview.com.