Despite many offices being shut down, Foley employees—including fire, police, and public works crews—worked tirelessly to clear roads and respond to emergencies during the severe winter weather.

On January 21, about 10 inches of snow blanketed Foley, closing roads throughout the region for several days.

Mayor Ralph Hellmich praised workers from multiple city departments who remained on duty, ensuring roads stayed accessible and responding to urgent situations throughout the storm.

“We had a successful week getting through as I termed it “‘Snowmageddon’ We’ve never seen anything like that around here. It broke records set back in 1895,” Hellmich said. “I want to commend public works. I want to commend our emergency responders, fire and police. They worked throughout the entire event. They went on calls. They did things to protect our citizens.”

Hellmich said Foley Public Works Department crews kept many roads cleared even though the city does not have equipment designed to remove snow and ice.

“Our Public Works adapted,” Hellmich said. “Some of the road building crew got out there every day. Some of our road clearing efforts were very successful. We didn't tear the roads up and we're one of the few cities that actually cleared the roads. I would say, within a day most of the major roads were clear. Within two days, even a lot of the side roads were cleared. So I want to commend them.”

The mayor said police and firefighters were able to respond to all calls for help during the emergency.

From the time snow began to fall on Jan. 21 until the morning of Jan. 24, Foley firefighters responded to 30 incidents, including two structure fires. Other calls included motor vehicle accidents, lift assist calls, public assistance, medical assistance calls with EMS, fire alarms due to frozen fire sprinkler systems and an electrical fire due to a broken power line.

One structure fire destroyed the residence. Foley crews were challenged with fighting the fire with heavy snow on the ground. 

The Fire Department brought in additional staffing throughout the weather event to assist with call volume and to staff vehicles that could better travel in the conditions. No department personnel were injured during the event and all department employees were able to report to work their shifts.

Foley police responses included 19 fire-medical assistance calls, 14 accidents and one disabled vehicle.