Roads crews, first responders log long hours after bruising storms
After the late January snowstorm dumped up to 18 inches on parts of the Highlands, Highway and Water Department staff in Beacon worked 993 hours of overtime clearing snow from roads, sidewalks and parking lots.
That's not 993 for the season — that's 993 hours of overtime for one storm. By the time the snow was (mostly) cleared, the city was on the hook for nearly $70,000 in overtime pay. Superintendent Michael Manzi and the 19-person highway crew worked around the clock, and the Water Department added 10 more bodies.
"It's all hands on deck," Manzi said this week. "Whether it's 3 inches or 20 inches, we attack it the same way."
No winter around here is normal, he said, and this one has been anything but. The second big storm of 2026 — this one designated a blizzard by meteorologists because of its high winds — brought 10 to 14 more inches from Sunday (Feb. 22) into Monday. Until recently, repeated surges of Arctic air had also prolonged one of the region's deepest freezes in decades.

Although less intense than the January snowfall, cleanup for the Sunday-to-Monday storm will push Beacon over the $90,000 it budgets each year for storm-related overtime. The City Council will consider a budget amendment to move funding around. "It's not catastrophic" to absorb, said City Administrator Chris White said, "but we do all hope it will stop snowing at this point."
Another issue has been where to put the snow. Beacon workers have established "glaciers" near the wastewater treatment plant on Dennings Avenue and at Memorial Park. More snow is stored at the highway garage on Camp Beacon Road. "We probably moved several hundred truckloads of snow that would still be on Main Street, parking lots or at the end of cul-de-sacs," White said.
A few miles down Route 9D, clearing the roads in Philipstown "went pretty smoothly," said Adam Hotaling, the town highway superintendent. Some roads were still "a little narrow" because of snow piled along the sides, but "we're working to widen them," he said. Snow cleared by Philipstown's crews gets piled at the highway department yard on Fishkill Road or the former town landfill on Lane Gate Road.
Dutchess and Putnam counties enacted travel bans during both heavy storms. Area first responders reported a handful of issues, none of them serious. "We increased staffing levels for each storm to ensure adequate coverage," said Beacon Fire Chief Tom Lucchesi. "There were no significant snow-related accidents, rescues or incidents requiring unusual or operations."
Cold Spring Fire Co. Chief Matt Steltz said the volunteer agency was well prepared for the storm and he was surprised when no calls came in, storm-related or otherwise. As a precaution, CSFC outfitted its all-wheel drive utility vehicle with firefighting capabilities including a water cannon and self-contained breathing apparatus and stationed it at 2nd Lt. Aaron Leonard's home.

Capt. Nicholas Falcone of the Philipstown Volunteer Ambulance Corps said attendants for both ambulances were on duty at the Cedar Steet station during the storm and responded to two calls. "Roads were very slippery even for our four-wheel drive vehicle," he said, adding that the Philipstown Highway Department was on call for the duration in case PVAC or the Garrison Volunteer Ambulance Corp needed assistance.
Falcone said that at midnight on Tuesday, the PVAC assisted the North Highlands Fire Department in the rescue of a hiker who had been lost for eight hours in deep snow in the woods at Lake Surprise. The hiker was taken to a hospital to be treated for hypothermia.
Officer-in-Charge Matt Jackson said the Cold Spring Police Department received few calls during the storm although one resident claimed that a snow removal company had damaged their property. Jackson also reported that on Tuesday morning a resident alerted an officer to an injured woodchuck lying in a snowbank near Lunn Terrace. The officer tra...