Serious snow study at Kingvale 'campus'

KINGVALE - There is a little-known university tucked away in this corner of the Sierra, complete with dorms, a cafeteria and transportation for the 170 enrolled here. While most universities are currently on winter break, this is the time of year when those at this university are being put to the test. You see, the focus at Kingvale University is not higher education, it's higher precipitation. The Caltrans station at Kingvale, located about 50 miles east of Auburn, becomes home to hundreds of equipment operators, cooks, mechanics and communication workers during winter storms like the ones this weekend. The men and women who work around the clock to keep the roads safe and clear of accumulated snow have dubbed the station "Kingvale University, home of the Snowfighters."Two separate crews operating snowplows, graders and sand trucks run 24 hours a day. Each driver spends 12 hours on the wet slick roads driving in blinding snow to keep the highways clear for motorists. A bleary-eyed Mike Gomes, 35, of Marysville, pulled into the filling station of the yard around 11:30 a.m. Friday morning. Food and sleep were foremost on his mind at the end of a long shift in the blowing snow. "The biggest challenge is staying awake," Gomes said as he filled up the snowplow with gasoline. "Being able to stay awake when visibility is low and winds are high is hard."Snow flying at a windshield at night has a rather hypnotic effect, he said.Gomes is one of about 170 Caltrans employees called in from other Caltrans districts throughout Northern California to work during the winter season, which typically lasts from mid-October until the spring thaw. Those at the Kingvale station work a 20-mile stretch of Interstate 80 during some of the harshest winter storms. As Gomes was ending his day, Curtis Scribner and Mark Johnson were just beginning theirs.Sitting in the dining area of the barracks were the employees live during their stint in the mountains, Johnson and Scribner were enjoying a hot bacon and eggs breakfast and sipping coffee before they had to head out into the chilly air. One of the challenges for many of the equipment operators, who can spend weeks at a time in Kingvale, is being away from their families."I've been here two weeks," said 32-year-old Scribner, who left his wife and four children at home in Gridley. "The wife can take it for four days or so, after that she gets tired of me being gone."Johnson, 57, of Walnut Creek, said his wife doesn't miss him all that much when he's away."She's pretty happy about it," he said. "I call her two times a day, once in the morning and once when my shift ends."The pair agrees that visibility and traffic are two of the hazards they face when removing snow."People get crazy," Johnson said. "They want to pass the plows and then suddenly realize they can't see because of the snow blowing."More than 30 pieces of equipment stand at the ready to clear a 20-mile stretch of Interstate 80 from the Yuba Gap to the Donner Lake interchange. But it isn't just the equipment operators who make the snow-covered yard their home.The communications center employees, cooks and maintenance workers all stay at the Kingvale station and work the demanding 12-hour shifts."We are 24-hours-a-day, 7-days a week," said Juanita Holley, supervisor of the stations communication center. "We live here during these big storms."The command center is one aspect of the major operation choreographed like a fine ballet.The six dispatchers in the command center, who work rotating shifts, coordinate road crews from eight substations from Auburn to Downieville."The priority for the substations is their stretch of highway," Holley said. And to keep the I-80 road crew going, supervising cook Fran Sandwith makes sure hot meals are prepared throughout the day."We cook almost around the clock," Sandwith said as she readied the kitchen to cook tamales for the night shift, which would begin around noon. "The crews are hungry, but mostly they are tired." The five cooks prepare more than 300 meals a day. Three hot meals a day are scheduled, sack lunches are prepared for the crews that cannot get in from the road to eat, and hot soup and cookies are always waiting."Everything is made fresh," Sandwith said. "Supplies are delivered, but it's all home cooking."Scribner, who works at the Caltrans yard in Marysville on the storm water crew in the off-season, has traded his own comfy bed for a small twin bed in a barren barrack room that resembles a dorm room before move-in.Scribner's roommate brought with him a taste of home in the form of a Star Wars bedspread. Other than, that the room had little character. A small television, closet, bathroom, two chairs and a small table finish off the décor. Using some ingenuity, Scribner fashioned a refrigerator from his window. Bottles of water and cans of soda are stored between the window of his room and the screen. "Well, it works," he said.In a short-sleeved shirt sitting in the warm cab of his snowplow, Larry Schwartz, 32, of Biggs looks groggy. He hasn't seen his family in days and before he can eat and get some sleep he must fuel, wash and inspect the plow for the next shift. The payoff for all the hard work - money."There is lots of overtime pay," he said. "But being away from my family is the hardest."For Schwartz and the rest of the crew, the job won't end any time soon.The National Weather Service predicts snow and strong winds throughout the weekend. Accumulation could reach up to 8 feet in the Sierra by Sunday night, with more snow showers predicted through early this week. The Journal's Penne Usher can be reached at penneu@goldcountrymedia.com.