Downtown Washington photographed at about noon Thursday, February 4th.

While county and state road crews fought blowing slow in clearing roads Thursday, the City of Washington’s street employees productively removed snow with few issues.

Maintenance and Construction Superintendent JJ Bell says the nine-employee crew was out at about 1 p.m. and finished around 6 p.m. Thursday, and some employees were out early Thursday morning clearing the downtown and areas of drifted snow. Bell says the crew anticipates heading out Saturday afternoon to clear additional snow that’s predicted today, and he asks a favor of residents, “If people can just, if you want to call it ‘adopt a fire hydrant,’ then keep them cleared of the snow. So if we ever have a fire out there the fire department can find the fire hydrants okay instead of looking for them. I’ve noticed some of them are getting three-fourths covered, if not all the way.”

Bell also advises everyone to move their vehicles off of city streets so they can be cleared. Washington County employees had to get off the roads at least once Thursday due to treacherous conditions, according to Washington County Emergency Management. The Washington County Communications Center received around 30 calls Thursday for vehicle incidents.