Officials ready to respond to storm

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) -- Police and fire departments around the state are making plans to do their jobs in the coming storm.

"As the storm hits we're going to chain up the trucks to make sure we get traction on the vechiles so they can be able to get around town. What we're also doing is putting on extra crews for the storm," said Batt. Chief John Sokolowski.

Starting at noon on Friday the additional crews will report to work. They will be spread throughout the town at the different fire houses and will team up with AMR paramedics.

"Actually we are going to have an AMR paramedics at Station 2 over the storm and we will have an ambulance at Station 1 housed down there during the storm so we will have personnel in town to be able to deal with all of that kind of stuff," said Batt. Chief Sokolowski.

In West Hartford, all the drivers are firefighters. They have the normal fire fighting duties, however they are dedicated drivers and go through a lot of training. They know exactly what the trucks can do in the snow and say they will be ready and able to get through quite a lot of snow in an emergency.

"They've been doing it for quite some time. It's not difficult for them at all and they're professional and can get the vehicles around town safely," said Batt. Chief Sokolowski.

The police department is also adding extra officers on the road. The good news is the storm is arriving on a Friday so most people will have Saturday off and can stay off the roads. The bad news is the storm is going to hit hard and fast and the snow is expected to pile up in a hurry.

"It does make it more difficult for us and the more cars that are out there, the more accident we have to respond to. We are fortunate we have a larger fleet this year of all wheel drive vehicles and 4 wheel drive vehicles so we will get there as fast as we can, as safe as we can, just have some patience with us as we will be dealing with a lot of calls for certain," said Sgt. Michael Perruccio, West Hartford Police Dept.