Victor Guzman is my hero.
The 44-year-old heavy equipment operator for Capitol Cement Co., Chicago, is plowing my street tonight. And he's doing it with a wheel loader.
His rig is a Cat 928F to be exact, and he usually spends time in the cab shoveling stone, sand and gravel—not snow.
"It's about the same," he says of the white stuff after loading up an 18-wheeler. The truck, its driver tells me, is headed to a large parking lot at the lakefront, about a mile away from my apartment, where city employees are melting it down and directing the water into the sewers.
Guzman is one of about 200 heavy-equipment operators working crazy hours to clear the streets of Chicago, which was inundated with more than 20 inches of snow during this week's blizzard, the worst to hit the Windy City since 1967.
Chicago has been digging out since the blizzard started on Tuesday. And although the city's fleet of nearly 300 snow plows is running full out tonight, it's not enough. Tackling this kind of snow job requires bigger machinery.
A view of my street on Wednesday.
The sheer volume of snow and the number of streets that need to be cleared is a daunting task requiring more than 200 pieces of heavy equipment, some of which is being rented out from local contractors on an emergency basis.
"I started at 6 A.M. this morning," says Guzman, looking like it's just another day at the office.
Guzman at the wheel of his loader.
He's expecting to stick around until about 10 P.M. tonight, clearing the streets, making huge piles of the white stuff and loading up more trucks.
Victor, I salute you.
Follow me on Twitter @DoctorDiesel.
