Airport crews get ready for winter storms

YOU CAN FEEL IT IN THE AIR. WINTER IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER. BUT ARE ALBUQUERQUE AND SANTA FE...  More »

YOU CAN FEEL IT IN THE AIR. WINTER IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER. BUT ARE ALBUQUERQUE AND SANTA FE PREPARED IF WE HAVE ANOTHER MONSTER SNOW STORM? JEFF MAHER FOUND OUT WHAT BOTH CITIES ARE DOING DIFFERENTLY SINCE LAST WINTER. HE'S LIVE AT THE SUNPORT. JEFF? HERE AT THE SUNPORT CREWS ARE PRACTICING ON DRY GROUND FOR HOW THEY CAN BETTER CLEAR SNOW FROM THE RUNWAYS. AND CITY OFFICIALS IN ALBUQUERQUE AND SANTA FE ALSO FEEL LIKE THEY'RE BETTER PREPARED. RECORD BREAKING SNOWSTORMS - COVERING MOST OF THE STATE IN WHITE - - PARALYZING THE HIGHWAYS, SHUTTING DOWN THE SUNPORT, AND LEAVING COUNTLESS NEW MEXICANS STRANDED, BURIED, AND OVERWHELMED. NOW, TEN MONTHS LATER, TWO CITIES THAT WERE RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF IT - ARE PREPARING THE BEST THEY CAN FOR ANOTHER BIG BLAST. 'now we'll have plenty of vehicles to take care of those emergency issues and we'll be able to more quickly plow the priority routes'IN SANTA FE, THE CITY HAS SPENT MORE THAN THREE- HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS TO BUY MORE SNOW- REMOVING TRUCKS. LAST YEAR THEY HAD SIX. NOW THEY'VE GOT A DOZEN. EVEN THE FIRE TRUCKS HAVE PLOWS ON THE FRONT. 'and also if there's an event these fire trucks can go out in front of their emergency vehicles and clear a path'AND IN ALBUQUERQUE - 'we have additional blades, we have I think eight or nine new trucks as well so we are ramping up' AND UNLIKE LAST YEAR - CITY CREWS ARE OUT EXERCISING THE EQUIPMENT - RUNNING THE ROUTES WHILE AT THE SAME TIME - TRAINING NEW EMPLOYEES. AT THE SUNPORT, WORKERS HAVE BEEN DOING THE EXERCISES FOR ABOUT A MONTH. 'we're ready to go, all equipment is a hundred percent, we've been training and exercising equipment for more than a month now' SUNPORT OFFICIALS SAY THEY DIDN'T NEED TO ADD ANY NEW EQUIPMENT. THEY INSIST THEY HAVE ENOUGH - AND SAY LAST YEAR'S DELAYS WERE SIMPLY CAUSED BY A 'FREAKISH' AMOUNT OF SNOW - SOMETHING THEY HOPE WON'T REPEAT THIS WINTER. LIVE AT THE SUNPORT. JEFF MAHER. EYEWITNESS NEWS FOUR. AN A-P-S  « Less